John,

I wanted to reach out about an issue that’s poised to be one of the most important things to pay attention to over the next few months: election certification.

In 2020, Donald Trump and his allies illegally tried to stop the election certification process, including pressuring the Georgia Secretary of State to find him 11,000 votes in the state, all the way up to demanding that then-Vice President Pence stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s win on January 6, 2021.

Up until 2020, county level election certification was a process that barely attracted any attention. It’s simply a matter of counting votes, filling out paperwork and reporting the vote totals to higher authorities. It’s not optional and it should not be controversial.

But over the past few years, there’s been an effort brewing in states across the country to throw elections into chaos by refusing to certify the results.

This is a real threat to our democracy—and that’s why CREW is focusing real resources on the issue now, before it becomes an emergency in November.

Earlier this week, CREW's Nikhel Sus testified to the Georgia Election Board, urging them not to adopt an election rule change that could throw the state’s election certification into chaos by making it easier for county officials to block certification.

Watch Nik explain what’s going on in Georgia on CNN, and then please consider making a donation to support our work protecting the election and our democracy today →

Unfortunately, the Board passed the rule after a shout out from Trump where he named the three partisan members who voted in favor and praised their “great work.”

The rule requires officials to make a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results. It may seem harmless, but it is totally outside of the Board’s authority to enact and it runs counter to decades of settled Georgia law, where other officials resolve election disputes.

It’s also vague and ambiguous, because as Nik said, “what’s reasonable to board members in one county may not be reasonable to members in another county. This sort of open-ended language invites arbitrary and patchwork decision-making across counties.”

If you play this policy out, in a nightmare scenario, as one local leader put it, the rule “would essentially give partisan county board of elections personal control over Georgia’s election results, allowing them to uphold certifying the election if they disagree with the results.” It would make county officials across the state subject to the same kind of pressure campaign that Trump launched against the Georgia Secretary of State.

And John, this is not a random, one-off rule change.

A Trump ally reportedly identified Georgia as the “laboratory” for Trump's so-called election integrity push. And election officials in other states like Arizona and Nevada have already tried to reject the certification of election results.

Everyone should be paying attention and getting ready now to protect election certification across the country. We’re gearing up for a lot more work on this—and we’ll keep you updated every step of the way.

Can you make a donation today to support CREW’s work protecting our democracy? →

Stay tuned for more from CREW on election certification soon. Thank you!

Donald Sherman
Executive Director
CREW