I think it is/was more insidious than that actually. I'm guessing they are just trying to set the stage to pass legislation to take certification responsibilities away from county officials. Sacrifice a rep county so the rep legislature can push the pesky dem counties out as they choose in future elections. Set a precedent and then lean into it. I'm not sure if they just got too much pressure internally to follow through or if this was just the first skirmish testing the idea.