A group of federal and state Republicans in Georgia sued the Peach State’s Democratic-leaning counties, saying that they illegally kept election offices open over the weekend so that people could hand-deliver their mail-in absentee ballots.
Attorney Alex B. Kaufman is representing the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the state Republican Party in this case.
Kaufman was on the famous call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2021, during which Trump begged Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to help him beat Joe Biden in the state.
Kaufman later said that he had “no role” in the conversation and did not speak for any of the people on the call.
Sixteen Georgia counties let people drop off their mail-in ballots over the weekend, even though the state’s early voting period ended on Friday.
The lawsuit was filed on Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. The complaint said that what was done was “illegally changing of voting deadlines.”
“The law is clear: you can no longer vote ahead of time.” Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Athens-Clarke, Clayton, and Chatham counties said at the last minute that they will let voters return absentee ballots this weekend and Monday, the lawsuit says.
“Even worse, the county’s actions break the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by giving voters in those counties special rights that are against state law. This unfairly affects voters and candidates in other counties.
Even worse, the county’s actions go against the federal Elections Clause because they do not follow the Georgia General Assembly’s rules about how federal elections should be run.
And right away, state officials pushed back against the claims, which were similar to those made in a state lawsuit filed by Republicans and the Trump campaign on Saturday and easily thrown out by a judge.
The claims were talked about over the weekend by Gabriel Sterling, who is the chief operating officer for the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.
Sterling wrote on Saturday night, “To be clear, no election laws were broken in Georgia today.” “The law makes it clear that absentee ballots can be turned in at [government] buildings.” This morning, a judge said so.
In a post to X, which used to be Twitter, Raffensperger also talked about the accusations straight on.
He wrote, “State law says that election officials can pick up absentee ballots in person at [government] buildings if the county wants to.”
This is what a number of counties have chosen to do. We are working with the political parties and counties to make sure this is done in a way that is open and follows Georgia law.
Republicans want the ballots that were collected over the weekend to be kept separate until the court case is over.
The RNC said in a press release that the ballots that were sent in after the deadline had to be separated.
“These counties need to follow the law and make sure their elections are safe.” The fact that Democrats keep breaking the law hurts trust in our elections and makes the process less clear.
A report from Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB says that the state lawsuit, which was only filed against Fulton County, a stronghold for Democrats, was quickly thrown out by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer on Saturday.
Farmer said that even though drop boxes can not be used after early voting ends, Georgia law clearly lets people turn in absentee ballots until the polls close on November 5.
WSB said Kaufman argued the case in front of Farmer.
The campaign lawyer for Vice President Kamala Harris, Dana Remus, told reporters that the GOP’s legal efforts were “very silly,” as reported by Politico.
Heard her say on Saturday, “In this last home stretch, we are seeing a lot of frankly really silly suits.” “That is why we answer when they bring these cases, get the record straight, and win.”
