Georgia GOP election official appeals decision mandating vote certification

A Georgia election official filed an appeal Wednesday after a judge ordered election leaders must certify election results by the legal deadline even if they suspect fraud or mistakes. 

Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County election board, filed a notice of appeal to the Georgia Court of Appeals after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled last week that election officials were required to certify the election by the legal deadline. 

Adams is specifically appealing the parts of McBurney's ruling that require she certifies election results by the deadline even if she "finds fraud or abuse, or other palpable error," according to the emergency motion. Adams is also arguing that the remedy provided in the order is "improper and insufficient … if she finds fraud and abuse."

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"Julie Adams – an employee of a pro-Trump, 'Stop the Steal' organization called the Election Integrity Network – continues abusing her position representing Fulton County voters in an attempt to help Donald Trump deny the 2024 election results when he loses, just as he did in 2020," Dave Hoffman, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Georgia – one of the defendants in the suit - told Fox News Digital. "The courts have already affirmed that MAGA activists like Adams cannot refuse to certify election results that they dislike, and we are confident that this latest effort to undermine democracy in Georgia will fail as well."

Adams initially filed suit seeking declaratory judgment, arguing she was "entitled to ‘full access’ to what she has identified as ‘election materials.’" 

McBurney granted in part and denied in part the relief requested. McBurney wrote in the order that "no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance." 

The order also stated that officials may investigate their concerns alongside related documents so long as "any delay in receiving such information is not a basis for refusing to certify the election results or abstaining from doing so."

The remedy Adams is appealing states that members are not left without "recourse or the means to voice substantive concerns about an election outcome," saying that such contests "arise after the ministerial act of certification." 

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Election results must be certified by Georgia's individual counties by 5 p.m. the Monday or Tuesday after the race.

The initial ruling was handed down the same day Georgia citizens headed to the polls for early in-person voting, which runs until Nov. 1. 

Adams had voted against certifying the presidential primary results in May. She proceeded to sue the Fulton County elections board, arguing she was unable to fulfill her duties as a superintendent after a documents request was denied. She had asked for additional documentation related to the election ahead of the certification deadline. 

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Georgia is a swing state in this year's election and was won by President Biden in 2020 by less than 1%. There are multiple lawsuits unfolding in the Peach State challenging a new measure passed by the state board of elections that would require county officials to hand-count ballots after they are tabulated by a machine on election night. 

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Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind and The Associated Press contributed to this report.