The U.S. swing state of Georgia's top court declined on Tuesday to hear an expedited appeal by Republicans of a ruling blocking new rules that would have empowered county officials to challenge election results.

The Georgia Supreme Court won’t let the state election board enforce a slate of controversial new election rules that were passed by allies of Donald Trump, ruling Tuesday against Republicans who asked for them to be revived as early voting got underway in the critical battleground state.

The Georgia Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by national and state Republicans to immediately reinstate recently passed election rules that a judge had ruled were invalid.

The decision is yet another legal setback for the state election board, which sought to implement an array of changes in the weeks and months before the November vote.