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A recent article in the Georgia Star (a Trump-leaning venue) claims that some emergency rules regarding Georgia's election had expired by Nov 3, because they were voted on in a July 1 meeting and that Georgia law limits the validity of such rules to 120 days.

On the other hand, two lawsuits from Trump-related organizations claim[ed] that those rules became effective on August 10 or 11, which is a bit odd, because if Georgia Star is correct, then they missed another basis on which to attack these rules (the lawsuits attacked the rules on their substance.)

What can be easily established from SEB's summaries is that the board voted on the rules on July 1 (following a public discussion), but then voted on the minutes of the previous meeting on August 10 (which was a "webinar meeting"). The latter meeting seemingly had no votes on individual rules of any kind (although some new rules were presented apparently owing to the notice requirements in Georgia law).

So, the question is then when do Georgia's SEB rules become effective (for the purpose of the 120-day limit). Is it on the day they are voted on individually by the SEB? Or when the minutes of the meeting are voted on (which seems to always happen at the next board meeting)? Or is there a journal of record, the publication wherein establishing the date (as it's usually the case for laws)? It's not clear to me what that journal would be for SEB rules.

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    It's standard parliamentary procedure that at the beginning of each meeting, you approve the minutes of previous meeting(s). But I've never heard of any version where actions taken at the meeting don't take effect until the minutes are approved. If this were the case, in order to do anything with immediate effect (which a body might certainly want to do), you'd have to approve the minutes at the end of the same meeting, and I've never heard of that being done. Normally the secretary would need time to prepare them.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Dec 21, 2020 at 4:31
  • @NateEldredge: that's indeed strange, but in legislative matters, there's usually a journal of record, and laws only become effective on the date they are published in that journal (unless they contain provision otherwise that push their effective date even further in the future). I'm not sure what the equivalent (journal) would be here for the Georgia SEB rules.
    – Fizz
    Dec 21, 2020 at 4:35

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