Georgia appeals court agrees: Local election officials must certify results

Credit: File photo

Georgia’s state Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s ruling in a 2024 election case, affirming that local election board members must certify election results by the deadline outlined in state law.

The battle over election certification was one of several contentious issues that came to define the 2024 election cycle in Georgia, as conservative activists — many of whom embraced President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims about massive voter fraud — sought to overhaul certain state election rules ahead of the presidential election. 

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In August 2024, the Georgia State Election Board passed new rules that would allow county canvassing boards to conduct their own investigations before certifying election results. Those rules were later overturned by a Fulton County Superior Court judge.

Credit: Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder

Last fall, Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, a Republican who refused to certify the results in her county’s presidential preference primary, filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, arguing that board members have the option to refuse to certify election results if they have reason to believe they are inaccurate. A spate of last-minute rule changes issued by the State Election Board would also have granted county boards greater leeway to delay certifying election results, but were later struck down by a Superior Court judge.

In October, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected her claim, issuing a ruling that stated “election superintendents in Georgia have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results.”

In a decision issued Wednesday, a three-judge panel agreed.

“Adams’ contention that the trial court erred by declaring she had a mandatory duty to certify election results is without merit,” the judges wrote in their decision. They also concluded that while election officials have certain forms of recourse if they believe there are errors in the election counts, “these concerns are not a basis for a superintendent to partially or entirely refuse to certify election results by the deadline.”

Georgia law explicitly requires election boards to certify the election results no later than 5 p.m. on the Monday following the election. 

The decision also vacated a piece of McBurney’s ruling that had enabled elections officials to request a wide range of additional election documents at their discretion, pointing to a 2025 state Supreme Court ruling that limits county election officials’ ability to review documents to “only those occasions on which the total votes exceed the total number of electors, voters, or ballots,” within a specific precinct. 

The case will now be sent back to the Fulton County Superior Court for further consideration.