The electoral committee in the important swing state of Georgia voted on Friday to count the ballots three times by hand before announcing the result.

As one of numerous proposals to change the electoral process, the new rule was approved by the conservative-leaning body by a vote of 3 to 2 less than 50 days before the November 5 election.

The changes come after Donald Trump sharply criticized the state’s handling of the 2020 election results and repeatedly and falsely claimed he won the state.

In Georgia, President Joe Biden narrowly won with 49.5 percent of the vote compared to 49.2 percent for Trump.

“The purpose of the rule is to ensure a secure, transparent and accurate vote count by requiring a systematic process in which votes are counted independently by hand by three sworn poll workers,” the motion states.

On election day, the election officer and two sworn poll workers open the ballot boxes, remove the ballot papers and record them. Three poll workers then count all the votes.

If all three totals match, the result is signed and the documents are sealed again.

The method of counting votes is at odds with the way vote-counting machines are used in most elections and could delay the announcement of results in Georgia by days or even weeks, according to NPR.

Other ideas being touted as a means of increasing election transparency include expanding access for partisan election observers.

Newsweek contacted the Election Commission by email on Friday morning and asked for comment.

Critics claim the board, which has moved ever further to the right, is trying to rewrite the rules in favor of former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“After changing election rules to give local election officials new powers to refuse to certify election results, the latest changes passed today by the pro-Trump Electoral College appear designed to create a weak link in our system,” Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of the voting rights group Fair Fight, said in a statement.

“It’s a perfect example of the MAGA operation’s strategy to sow doubt and chaos and turn the 2024 election on its head. But it won’t work, the people will decide and their conspiracy will fail.”

The Georgia Attorney General’s office warned in a letter Thursday that the panel was enforcing rules that “very likely exceed the panel’s statutory authority,” while voting rights advocacy groups also expressed concerns.

“County election boards have a clear duty under Georgia law to faithfully report and timely certify their election results,” Sophia Lakin, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said in a press release last week. “The state election board’s last-minute rule changes create uncertainty and confusion in certification and threaten the fundamental right to vote.”

After the election four years ago, Trump claimed there was voter fraud and that some voting machines had been tampered with, which cost him his defeat in the state. Despite recounts and several failed court cases, the Republican warned of “fraud” again this November.

The Trump-supporting Georgia Election Integrity Coalition has already made allegations of voter fraud, even though early voting in the state does not begin until October 15.

In some parts of the state and in other swing states affected by Trump’s election fraud allegations, authorities had to increase security measures for poll workers in the run-up to Election Day.

Newsweek has reached out to the Georgia Attorney General’s office for comment, but the office said it could not provide further comment.

Update 9/20/24 1:25 PM ET: This story has been updated with additional information.

Update 9/20/24, 4:27 PM ET: This article has been updated with commentary from Lauren Groh-Wargo.

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