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Already, two rules the board passed last month having to do with certifying vote counts have been challenged in two separate lawsuits, one filed by Democrats and the other filed by a conservative group. A judge has set an Oct. 1 trial on the Democrats’ lawsuit. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last month called the hand counting rule “misguided,” saying it would delay the reporting of election results and introduce risks to chain of custody procedures. The new rule requires that the number of ballots — not the number of votes — be counted at each polling place by three separate poll workers until all three counts are the same. If a scanner has more than 750 ballots inside at the end of voting, the poll manager can decide to begin the count the following day. The three workers will have to count the ballots in piles of 50, and the poll manager needs to explain and fix, if possible, any discrepancies, as well as document them. Results could be delayed if polling places decide to wait until the to hand tally is finished before they send the memory cards that record the votes in machines to the central tabulation location. Several county election officials who spoke out against the rule during a public comment period preceding the vote warned that a hand count could delay the reporting of election night results. They also worried about putting an additional burden on poll workers who have already worked a long day.