The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an appeal to immediately reinstate new ballot rules passed by the State Election Board last month, leaving the previous rules in place until after Election Day.

Justices on the state's highest court unanimously ruled that the new rules would not be reinstated until after Election Day.

The new rules included a provision requiring all ballots to be counted by three different officials and a new requirement to certify votes only after a "reasonable inquiry" into their accuracy.

Other new requirements include requiring ID to vote and stricter rules around dropboxes used for early voting.

"Illegal, unconstitutional, and void"

The rules were voted in by the Republican-headed state election board on September 20 in a 3-2 vote.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox, Jr. previously ruled the measures were "illegal, unconstitutional, and void."

The Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and Eternal Vigilance brought the suit and are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Election Day is two weeks away, but more Georgians are voting early this year.

An estimated 25% of voters may have already voted in the state.

"Injecting chaos"

The ACLU said the new rules were "injecting chaos into the democratic system in the immediate run-up to the November election."

"Early voting has begun and over 1 million Georgians have already cast their ballots. Judge Cox's ruling prevented a rule change in the middle of the game," the ACLU said in response to the Republicans’ appeal.

The hand-counting of ballots had already been blocked by a separate Fulton County Superior Court ruling temporarily delaying its implementation, so even if the appeal had worked, that provision would have been avoided.

Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon said that the new rules were necessary for secure voting in the state.

Other Republicans including State Secretary Brad Raffensperger said that they were unworkable because they came too close to the start of the election.