Critics say the move could significantly delay the reporting of results in the battleground state and inject chaos into the post-election period.

Georgia's Republican-controlled election board voted on Friday (Sep 20) to require a labor-intensive hand count of potentially millions of ballots in November, a move voting rights advocates say

Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Georgia's state election board, dominated by supporters of former President Donald Trump, on Friday approved a controversial measure requiring hand-counting of ballots that critics say could create chaos in November.

The state’s attorney general’s office opposed the rule, saying it “very likely” exceeds the board’s authority.

The Georgia State Election Board has ruled that election officials must hand count ballots on election night in a state that is expected to come down to the wire.

If approved, the hand count rule would make Georgia the only state in the U.S. to implement such a requirement as part of the normal process of tabulating results, according to Gowri Ramachandran, the director of elections and security at New York University's Brennan Centre for Justice.