Eternal Vigilance Action, Inc. v. Georgia

Georgia first established its State Election Board (SEB) to bring uniformity to election administration in 1964. Since 1968, the SEB consisted of the Georgia Secretary of State who chaired the board, plus four appointed members — one selected by the Georgia House, one by the Georgia Senate, and one each from the Democratic and Republican Parties. In response to the 2020 presidential election results and unsubstantiated allegations of election interference, Georgia’s Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the Election Integrity Act of 2021 (Senate Bill 202), which changed how the chair of the SEB was selected. Instead of the SEB being chaired by the Secretary of State, the General Assembly gave itself the power to elect the chair, increasing the number of seats it names to three — a majority on the five-member board. 

On March 26, 2024, Republican-appointed Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections member Michael Heekin submitted a rulemaking proposal to the SEB. This proposal, known as the “Heekin Rule” or “Reasonable Inquiry Rule,” sought to amend SEB Rule 183-1-12.02 by requiring “a reasonable inquiry” into election results before certification, which would change the statutorily defined process for election certification by redefining the term. The SEB voted 3-2 to adopt the Heekin Rule, and it became effective September 4, 2024. 

On June 17, 2024, Republican Party official Salleigh Grubbs proposed several amendments to Rule 183-1-12.12 known collectively as the “Grubbs Rule” or the “Examination Rule.” The Grubbs Rule proposed that election board members be allowed to examine all election related documentation created prior to certification. The proposed rule also included new numerical checks of election results prior to certification that were inconsistent with existing election code. Lastly, in instances where election boards suspected error or fraud, the proposed rule would have permitted the boards to develop their own method to compute results, also in conflict with existing election code. This rule was also adopted by the SEB in a 3-2 vote and became effective September 16, 2024. 

The SEB itself also developed a set of amendments to Rule 183-1-12.12 known as the “Hand Count Rule.” Under this rule, teams of three poll workers at each polling site would be required to open the sealed scanner ballot boxes and individually hand-count every ballot, starting as early as the close of Election Day and continuing through the end of the county certification period. These poll workers would be required to count and recount ballots until they all arrived at the same total and then compare the hand counts to the scanner counts. Any inconsistencies were to be corrected by the precinct poll manager, though no direction was provided to precinct managers as to what measures should be taken or what should happen if the inconsistency could not be corrected. The SEB voted 3-2 to adopt the Hand Count Rule on September 20, 2024, and it would take effect on October 10, 2024. 

On September 11, 2024, Eternal Vigilance Action, Inc. and two individual Georgia voters filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court challenging the newly enacted election rules. On September 25, 2024, the plaintiffs amended their complaint to include challenges to additional rules enacted after the initial complaint was filed, including the Hand Count Rule. In total, plaintiffs challenged seven specific rules. The plaintiffs argued that the Georgia Legislature’s grant of rulemaking authority to the SEB was impermissibly broad and lacked any guidance or parameters for the SEB and was thus unconstitutional under the state’s constitutional nondelegation doctrine. The plaintiffs additionally argued that the election code strictly limits the manner of vote counting and certification, detailing the specific requirements placed on local election superintendents for the computation, canvassing, and tabulation of votes. The plaintiffs further argued that the SEB’s sole constitutional role is to execute the election laws passed by the state legislature, and the SEB therefore lacks the authority to promulgate any rules. The plaintiffs asked the court to declare the challenged rules void and rule the SEB lacks authority to make any rules.  

On September 27, 2024, the Georgia Republican Party and the Republican National Committee moved to intervene as defendants, which the court granted on October 2, 2024. 

On October 9, 2024, the League of Women Voters of Georgia (LWVGA), New Georgia Project, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and Secure Families Initiative, along with several individual Georgia voters, filed an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs’ claims against the Reasonable Inquiry, Examination, and Hand Count Rules, arguing that they unlawfully expanded local election administrators’ discretion when certifying election results, invited local officials to obstruct certification or manipulate certified vote counts, and gave election officials a pretext to deny election results. LWVGA and fellow amici further argued the rules would harm Georgia voters, particularly Black voters and other voters of color, and undermine their faith in democracy. 

On October 16, 2024, the Fulton County Superior Court declared the challenged rules exceeded or were in conflict with specific provisions of Georgia’s election code and blocked the State of Georgia and the SEB from enforcing the rules. 

Defendants then filed an emergency appeal in the Supreme Court of Georgia. On October 22, 2024, the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed to hear the appeal but declined to expedite it. On June 10, 2025, the Supreme Court of Georgia issued its ruling. 

In its decision, the court ruled Eternal Vigilance did not assert violations of any of their own rights and had no organizational standing to bring a case and further found that the individual voter plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge two of the seven rules. The court remanded proceedings to the trial court to determine whether local election officials had standing to challenge these two rules. The court found that the individual voter plaintiffs had standing to bring claims on the other five rules challenged, which included the Reasonable Inquiry, Examination, and Hand Count Rules.  

The court held that the Reasonable Inquiry, Examination, and Hand Count Rules, as well one other contested rule, the “Drop Box ID” Rule, were too inconsistent with existing election laws. The court rejected plaintiffs’ broader argument that all rules adopted by the SEB were void under Georgia’s nondelegation doctrine, instead finding that the SEB may “pass rules consistent with the existing statutory structure, but it cannot go beyond, change, or contradict the statutory scheme.”  

LWVGA was represented in this case by the Southern Poverty Law Center.