The State Election Board in Georgia, controlled 3-2 by Trump partisans, recently adopted a requirement that local officials to perform a hand-count of ballots cast on November 5. This, of course, would cause lengthy delays in reaching a result.

Robert C. McBurney is a judge of the Georgia 5th Superior Court District Atlanta Circuit. He was first appointed by Republican Governor Nathan Deal and was subsequently elected. Just days ago, he overturned Georgia’s abortion ban.

The New York Times reported:

A county judge in Georgia on Tuesday blocked a new rule mandating a hand count of election ballots across the state. Enacting such a sweeping change for the November election, he said, was “too much, too late.”

Judge Robert C.I. McBurney did not, however, knock down the rule outright; his decision was confined to the current election, halting the rule from taking effect for 2024 while he further weighs its merits.

The rule, passed last month by the State Election Board, would have required poll workers across Georgia to break open sealed containers of ballots and count them by hand to ensure that the total number of ballots matched the total counted by tabulating machines. (It would not have required officials to tally for whom the ballots were cast.)

But Judge McBurney agreed with challenges from several county election boards that the rule was made too close to the election.