The state of Georgia took a major step in securing public confidence in its elections this week by passing a law that requires all absentee ballots to be counted within one hour of polls closing on Election Day.

The new law was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) and will take effect in time for the presidential election in November. The governor signed the bill despite significant pressure from outside groups and even a few members of his own party. Predictably, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia has vowed to sue to block the law, which it says imposes “an impossible and overly burdensome requirement.”

But this new requirement will do wonders for election integrity in the Peach State. In 2020, absentee ballots dragged on vote counting in the state by more than a week. That year, CNN and other major news outlets did not project that the electoral votes in the state would go to Joe Biden until Nov. 13, 10 whole days after Election Day that year.

This delay in vote counting severely undermined the public’s perception of the integrity of the electoral outcome and likely contributed to Democrats winning two Senate seats in a special election two months later.

More recently, voting laws in California have regularly delayed vote counting there for weeks. In fact, control of the U.S. House of Representatives was not decided in 2022 for several days after the election because the state took so long to count its votes.

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Public confidence in elections is paramount to keeping civil order and facilitating transfers of power from one party to another. Counting votes in a timely and accurate manner is essential to keeping that confidence.

Georgia’s new law is a model that every state should follow to ensure that voters promptly know who won the elections in their state. Absentee ballots are received weeks ahead of Election Day and there is no reason why these votes cannot be counted early as well and reported quickly after polls close. For example, ever since Florida began counting such votes as they arrive, Florida has reported final results, unchallenged, within hours after polls have closed. The sooner a state reports its election results, the better it is for candidates, voters, and the integrity of the electoral system.