Harris campaign celebrates after Georgia judge blocks hand-count ballot rule

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Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is celebrating after a Georgia judge temporarily blocked a rule that would have forced election officials to hand count ballots after they have been machine-tabulated.

"From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it," a joint statement to several media outlets read.

"We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count."

The brief comments were released by Georgia Democratic Party Chair Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., Democratic National Committee acting Co-Executive Director Monica Guardiola and Harris-Walz Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks.

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Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign is celebrating the Tuesday night court decision in Georgia. (Getty Images)

The joint statement lauding the ruling is a reflection of how lockstep state and national Democrats have been in opposing the new measure.

Slated to go into effect Oct. 22, the rule would have required three county elections officials at each polling place to manually count the ballots cast — not tally the votes themselves — after ballots were tabulated by a machine.

It was passed in a 3-2 vote by the State Elections Board (SEB), which is now facing several lawsuits against the measure and other changes by the GOP-majority board.

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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney issued the ruling. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File)

Democrats have argued that the rule was created to purposefully sow division and uncertainty in the presidential election in Georgia — which was decided by less than 12,000 votes in 2020.

In Tuesday night's ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney did not take issue with the intent of the rule itself but criticized the SEB's decision to make changes so close to Election Day.

He noted that no training had been implemented or developed to prepare election workers for the new procedure, nor had funds been allocated for that purpose.

"The administrative chaos that will — not may — ensue is entirely inconsistent with the obligations of our boards of elections (and the SEB) to ensure that our elections are fair, legal, and orderly," McBurney wrote.

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Georgia Republican Party officials and allies of former President Trump held up the rule as a fair guardrail to increase voter confidence in the election process.

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McBurney wrote that the rule "on paper" appeared consistent with the SEB's goal to ensure fair and legal elections but added any new measure "that allows for our paper ballots — the only tangible proof of who voted for whom — to be handled multiple times by multiple people following an exhausting Election Day all before they are securely transported to the official tabulation center does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the ruling.