The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention — one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with

A judge in the US state of Georgia has blocked seven new state election rules favoured by Republican Donald Trump after finding that they would unnecessarily interfere with the voting process. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox on Wednesday struck down a rule that requires that ballots be counted by hand,

Cox Jr. struck down seven new rules from the board, including a controversial ballot hand-count rule that another judge had already temporarily blocked on Tuesday. Cox ruled that all seven rules recently passed by the board contradicted the state's election laws and exceeded the state board's authority.

A judge overturned changes to Georgia election rules made by a Republican-controlled state board in August, in a case brought by a conservative group that argued the changes would disrupt voting rights ahead of the Nov.

The ruling prevents implementation of a series of decisions that critics had said threatened to cause chaos in the battleground state this election season.

State and national Republicans on Thursday appealed a Georgia judge’s ruling striking down a slate of controversial new election rules passed by Donald Trump allies, including two related to the state’s election certification process that Democrats say would inject “chaos” into the critical battleground state after Election Day.