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Just weeks before a historic runoff election, Republican Georgia voters are suing the state, claiming the new rules adopted over mail-in ballots are unconstitutional.
Georgia’s 12th Congressional District is among the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges Georgia Secretary of State Bradford Raffensperger and members of the Georgia State Election Board violate the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by not requiring ID verification in the mail-in ballot process, not expertly checking signatures and allowing ballot boxes to go unwatched.
Absentee ballot drop boxes were put in place for Georgia voters for the first time in 2020, according to NPR affiliate WABE. On Nov. 23, the board extended the emergency drop box rule for the Jan. 5 Senate runoffs.
Plaintiffs argue these emergency rules break previously existing laws the State Election Board is already supposed to be enforcing.
“The 12th District Committee and its members will be directly harmed in future elections if [the] SEB Rules … and the new verification procedure imposed by Defendant Raffensperger remain in force,” the Georgia voters say in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs further elaborate on these claims, citing the existing Georgia voter laws already in place.
They say Raffensperger and the members of Georgia’s State Election Board are breaking laws spelled out in Section 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.
Specified in that section, according to the lawsuit, is “how and where absentee ballots may be delivered to county election officials.”
“These statutes, which codify a specific and detailed procedure for requesting, delivering, processing, verifying and monitoring the tabulation of absentee ballots, are designed to protect Georgians from the universally acknowledged dangers of widespread mail-in absentee voting, which carries a significant risk of election irregularities and vote fraud,” the plaintiffs say.
They take issue with the emergency rules not requiring voter identification. All named plaintiffs in the lawsuit say Georgia voters have to verify their ID when voting in-person.
The plaintiffs report being “injured by the disparate treatment” because “absentee voters are allowed to vote without the same scrutiny.”
The lawsuit further cites issues with Georgia voters dropping ballots off in unattended boxes, leaving “no mechanism to ensure their legitimacy.”
“Mail-in absentee voting creates opportunities to obscure the true identities of persons fraudulently claiming to be legitimate electors,” the plaintiffs said.
The issue of monitoring these drop boxes was brought up in the State Election Board’s emergency meeting Nov. 23, WABE reported.
The State Election Board says these ballot drop-offs are monitored by cameras 24 hours a day and counties are required to keep the video for at least 30 days following election certification.
Georgia voters have seen at least three recounts of their votes for president this year, according to Atlanta NBC affiliate 11 Alive. This lawsuit marks scores of legal actions stemming from the 2020 elections.
Matt Mashburn, a Republican member of the Georgia State Election Board, told WABE the election has been a well-reviewed process.
“By the time this election is done, we will have the most looked-at, checked, double-checked and after the recount triple-checked, and examined election possible — than has ever been in possible in Georgia’s history — due in large part to the tools that we have for the first time ever in this election,” Mashburn said.
Georgia’s secretary of state reports 1.3 million people voted through mail-ballots in this year’s general election, 11 Alive reports. The New York Times says almost 1 million Georgia voters have requested absentee ballots for the Jan. 5 runoff election for the Senate seats.
In-person early voting begins on Dec. 14, and those mailing ballots must have one requested by Jan. 1.
Are you a Georgia voter? How do you feel about the upcoming runoff election? Let us know in the comments below.
Counsel representing the plaintiffs are Johnny Vines of Johnny Vines PC; and Patrick M. McSweeney, Robert J. Cynkar and Christopher I. Kachouroff of Mcsweeney, Cynkar & Kachouroff PLLC.
The Georgia Absentee Ballot Lawsuit is 12th Congressional District Republican Committee, et al. v. Bradford J. Raffensperger, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00180-JRH-BKE, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Augusta Division.
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2 thoughts onRepublican Georgia Voters Fighting State’s Absentee Ballot Laws
Count me in
I voted twice in Georgia by Absentee Ballots. I wonder where my vote is going to. The votes need to be watched by honest persons and reliable machines programed to be honest as well.