Judge rejects third lawsuit from Georgia election official
Background: FILE – Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney looks through paperwork, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File). Inset: Fulton County board of elections member Julie Adams (Virginia Institute for Public Policy).
Third time was not a charm for Georgia elections board member Julie Adams on Monday as a judge in Fulton County swatted down a third lawsuit from the Republican official, who demanded voter and poll complaints be sent to her electronically ahead of Election Day, along with other info, to help “certify the accuracy” of the results.
Adams — a member of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration — had argued in earlier suits that “without access to any of the Election Materials and Processes needed to verify the returns and results of an election, BRE members are left to rely on the bare representations of the Director,” according to Fulton County Superior Court records.
She is one of at least 19 Georgia elections board members who have voted not to certify election results since 2020, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Adams’ latest lawsuit saw her asking for lists of complaints made by poll workers, poll watchers and local voters, among other election-related info, even though Fulton County officials had already approved a similar request for documents the week before.
In a ruling made on Oct. 14 related to her second failed suit — filed in September — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney found that county election officials exercise a “mandatory” role when it comes to vote certifications and “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.”
McBurney also found, however, that Adams was entitled to the information that she requested — but since she filed an appeal after that rejection, the judge wrote on Monday that he was unable to enforce that particular part of his ruling.
“While it is flattering to see the final order [that McBurney made in the last case] … so prominently in a subsequent piece of litigation, it is also futile,” the judge wrote in his decision on Monday. “The final order has been stayed — by plaintiff’s own doing. There is nothing from that Order for this Court to enforce and thus no relief pursuant to that Order that this Court can provide. For that prosaic reason, and not for any judgment on the merits of her underlying request, Plaintiff’s application is DENIED.”
The decision was viewed as a major win by Democrats and election rights advocates who have been worried that GOP board members will band together and collectively refuse to certify the election results, should Donald Trump not win in their respective states.
Adams’ first lawsuit this year came in May, when she went after the Fulton County election board and its director, Nadine Williams, for allegedly preventing her from “performing her statutory duties as a BRE member as she has been denied, and continues to be denied, access to essential election materials and processes by which elections in Fulton County are conducted,” her complaint said.
“Plaintiff’s requests for data have been stymied by direct instructions from the BRE’s Chair to the staff that Plaintiff is to be denied access to key election information,” the complaint added. “Defendant Nadine Williams, Elections Director, has informed Plaintiff that her requests for supporting documentation relative to election results are unnecessary because the Director’s summaries are submitted to a ‘rigorous validation process’ and should simply be trusted.”
Adams claimed that without the ability to “confirm the accuracy of the returns and the ability to observe and inspect the various election processes in Fulton County,” she was forced to vote against the certification of election results.
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach Adams for comment on Monday were unsuccessful.
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