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Georgia judge rules election officials can’t delay certification because of fraud concerns
Elections officials in Georgia have to certify results by the date required in state law, a judge ruled Monday, saying they have no discretion to delay certification because of fraud concerns or other potential issues that may arise as votes are being counted.
Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney wrote in an order Monday that “election superintendents in Georgia have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results” by Nov. 12.
The ruling came in a case filed by Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County election board, who argued election board members had leeway around certification. She wrote in her complaint that she would be “unable to fulfill her oath of office” if not empowered to investigate for fraud.
McBurney, who also presided over the Georgia grand jury that indicted Trump and others in 2023, wrote 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 case was supported by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. During an Oct. 1 bench trial, Adams’ attorneys argued that election officials should be allowed to certify results that don’t include batches of ballots they’re investigating for fraud.
McBurney said in his ruling that while local superintendents have an obligation to “investigate concerns about miscounts,” they are not empowered to investigate or determine fraud. Instead, any concerns they have should be forwarded to law enforcement, he wrote.
“The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of State, the many District Attorneys, and the Attorney General are all better equipped and clearly authorized to undertake the work of verifying election fraud and seeking consequences for it. Superintendents are not,” McBurney wrote.
John Bazemore / AP
Adams could not immediately be reached for comment. The ruling can be appealed.
Quentin Fulks, a spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, welcomed the ruling.
“Election after election, in state after state, we have protected our elections from far-right Republicans trying to disrupt them, and Democrats remain ready to stand up and make sure every voter can cast their ballot knowing it will count,” Fulks said in a statement.
McBurney, the judge, is presiding over other challenges in the crucial presidential election swing state as the Election Day nears. On Tuesday morning, he is hearing arguments in a challenge to new rules passed in September by the State Election Board. Critics have said the rules — including a requirement for a hand count of ballots — could delay certification of the election.
A ruling in that case is pending.
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Wisconsin school shooter was in contact with California man plotting his own attack, court documents say
The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California whom authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told the Associated Press Wednesday. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge issued a restraining order Tuesday under California’s gun red flag law against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man. The order requires the man to turn his guns and ammunition into police within 48 hours unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents that he had been messaging Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin shooter, about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order doesn’t say what building he had targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. It also doesn’t detail his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
CBS’ San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV reported that law enforcement searched the man’s home Tuesday night after the order was signed by the judge.
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with the shooter’s parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes told the AP.
Police don’t know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
On a Madison city website providing details about the shooting, police disclosed Wednesday that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used in the shooting. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News the weapon used appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP that he did not know how the suspected shooter obtained the guns and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow’s parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes told the AP.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.
The Dan County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two people killed Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
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