GOP claims Georgia counties illegally collecting ballots
Background: An Early Voting sign is seen outside of a polling station, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Stockbridge, Ga. (AP Photo/Jason Allen). Inset, top to bottom: Donald Trump (ABC News) and Alex B. Kaufman (WCAT/YouTube).
Federal and state Republican lawmakers in Georgia filed a federal lawsuit claiming that several Democratic-leaning counties in the Peach State illegally kept election offices open over the weekend to allow citizens to hand-deliver their mail-in absentee ballots.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the state Republican Party are being represented in the matter by attorney Alex B. Kaufman, who previously sat in on then-President Donald Trump’s now infamous 2021 call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during which Trump implored Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to help him win the state from Joe Biden. Kaufman later said that he played “no role” in the conversation and did not represent any of the parties involved in the call.
The lawsuit, filed Sunday in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, claims that seven Georgia counties allowed voters to drop off their mail-in ballots over the weekend after the state’s early voting period ended on Friday. Such conduct amounted to an “illegal change of voting deadlines,” according to the complaint.
“The law is clear—the period of advance voting is over. But, that hasn’t stopped Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Athens-Clarke, Clayton, and Chatham counties from announcing at the eleventh hour that they will open this weekend and Monday for voters to return absentee ballots,” the suit states. “Worse, the county’s actions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by granting special privileges to voters of those counties in violation of state law, thus arbitrarily and disparately affecting against voters and candidates in other counties. Worse still, the county’s actions violate the federal Elections Clause by flouting the Georgia General Assembly’s regulations setting the ‘Manner’ of federal elections”
But state officials quickly pushed back against the allegations, which mirror claims included in a state lawsuit filed by Republicans and the Trump campaign that was handily rejected by a judge on Saturday.
Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, addressed the claims over the weekend.
“To be clear, no election laws were broken in Georgia today,” Sterling wrote Saturday evening. “The law clearly states that [government] buildings can be used to receive absentee ballots. A judge said so this morning.”
Raffensperger also addressed the allegations head-on with a post to X, formerly Twitter.
“Under state law, election officials can receive absentee ballots in person at [government] facilities if the county chooses,” he wrote. “Several counties have chosen to do this. We are working with the counties and the political parties to ensure this is done transparently and within Georgia law.”
Republicans are seeking to have the ballots collected over the weekend segregated pending the outcome of legal proceedings.
“The ballots received after the deadline must be separated,” the RNC said in a press release. “These counties must follow the law and secure their elections. Democrats’ continued disregard for the law does nothing but undermine transparency in the process and faith in our elections.”
The state lawsuit, which was only filed against Democratic stronghold Fulton County, was summarily rejected by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer on Saturday, according to a report from Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB. Farmer reasoned that while drop box locations are restricted after the end of early voting, Georgia law unequivocally allows absentee ballots to be collected until the close of polls on Nov. 5.
WSB reported that Kaufman argued the case before Farmer.
Dana Remus, an attorney for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, told reporters that the GOP’s legal efforts were “very silly,” Politico reported.
“In this last home stretch, we’re seeing a lot of frankly really silly suits,” She reportedly said Saturday. “So, when they bring these cases, we respond, and then we’re clearing the record and winning.”
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