Several Democratic politicians in the state of Georgia, as well as leading representatives of religious groups and civil rights activists, called on Governor Brian Kemp on Monday to remove three Donald Trump-loyal members of the state election commission from office. They are accused of holding an illegal assembly and enacting illegal election rules in recent weeks.

The fallout from a July Georgia state election board meeting is still reverberating, with a recent lawsuit, an ethics complaint and a letter calling on Kemp to remove election board members Janelle King, Janice Johnston and Rick Jeffares from office. Jeffares proposed an election certification rule at a July 12 meeting that sparked complaints that the right-wing faction violated the state’s open meetings law.

The new rules allow counties to delay certification of an election to allow time to investigate irregularities, replacing what was long considered a ministerial process.

The Georgia Democratic Party filed suit Monday to overturn the two changes to election certification rules, which could leave a court to resolve the issue long after the state’s certification deadline has passed.

Also Monday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta, state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes of Duluth and Rep. Saira Draper of Atlanta were among elected officials, clergy and voting rights activists calling for an investigation and removal of the board members for ethics violations, including conducting an illegal meeting.

They accused the Republican-controlled Electoral College of delaying the certification of the election as part of an ongoing attempt by Trump and his supporters to lay the groundwork for challenging a defeat to Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election. Democratic officials expressed fear that changes to election rules could be used to sow discord or worse.

Islam Parkes filed a formal complaint with Kemp last week, demanding the dismissal of the three board members for violations of the code of ethics and the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

McBath accused the three election officials of pushing certification rules that Trump could use to “throw our country into chaos.”

“If we fail to protect our democracy, our sacred democracy, we risk descending into chaos,” McBath said during Monday’s press conference at the State Capitol.

King, Johnston and Jeffares have adopted rules that require local election officials to conduct “reasonable investigations” before certification and give them the authority to examine all election materials. King and Jeffares attended the board’s July 12 “emergency” meeting in person, while Johnston voted virtually.

King insisted on social media on Monday that the Electoral College’s new rules were designed to strengthen the vote certification process. All other claims come from partisans seeking to obstruct a careful vote count.

According to Kemp’s spokesman Garrison Douglas, the governor is seeking advice from Attorney General Chris Carr to decide how to proceed with the ethics complaint against the election board members. Douglas said the governor is unsure whether he has the authority to investigate complaints against the election board.

Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon on Monday attacked “far-left” Democrats for a press conference he called insulting and threatening the three members of the state panel. McKoon accused McBath of making dangerous claims that the three Electoral College members who pushed through the change in certification rules were undermining democracy and suppressing voters.

McKoon asked why there was so much resistance to regulations that would allow local election boards to review information before certification and give political parties more opportunities to monitor the counting of ballots.

“Words matter. Truth matters. It is obvious that Democrats oppose common-sense rules that ensure the integrity of Georgia’s elections,” McKoon wrote in an emailed statement to his party supporters. “The real question should be WHY they oppose these common-sense rule changes.”

Lawsuit filed to invalidate new rules that could delay certification of votes in November

In its lawsuit filed Monday against the state election board, the Georgia Democratic Party is seeking to block the implementation of new certification rules that it says give local officials broad powers to “hunt” for election irregularities, delay certification and overturn a longstanding practice of certifying election results.

Other plaintiffs in the case include several election board members from Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Forsyth counties.

The lawsuit alleges that the requirement for a “reasonable investigation” conflicts with Georgia state law and asks a judge to order election officials to certify the results of the Nov. 5 election no later than 5 p.m. on Nov. 12.

The new election rules assume that county councils have discretion in certifying election results and that that certification can be delayed or prevented by a comprehensive investigation, the lawsuit says.

“But that is not required by law in Georgia. Rather, election officials have a duty to certify results by 5 p.m. six days after Election Day,” the lawsuit states. “Allegations of voter fraud or election fraud are then resolved by the courts in properly filed appeals, not by county committees in the counting process.”

Another election certification lawsuit is pending in Fulton court, between Fulton Board of Elections member Julie Adams and the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration. Adams is asking the Georgia court to revise the law to allow local officials to refuse to certify results.

VoterGa, an influential group that in recent weeks has supported the same election rules proposed by the three board members, on Monday defended the actions of King, Jeffares and Johnston. The political dynamics of the state board have shifted this year with the appointment of loyal Trump supporters Jeffares and King to replace two moderate Republicans.

At his rally in Atlanta earlier this month, Trump called the trio “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”

VoterGa co-founder Garland Favorito disagreed with claims that the election board had broken open meeting laws or passed an illegal certification rule.

“We have led the election integrity movement in Georgia for over 17 years and believe it is important to distinguish between Georgia election law and political theater,” Favorito said in a statement.

Several election officials in the state of Georgia have refused to certify results since the 2020 election because there were discrepancies in voter registration data or a recount produced a different vote total than the original machine count.

In these cases, either a majority of members voted to certify the results, the reasons for the inaccuracies were corrected before the certification deadline, or the Secretary of State was able to use the original count after a Coffee County committee declined to certify a recount of the 2020 presidential election.

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