After a Georgia judge rejected a Republican lawsuit to stop counties from opening election centers during the weekend on Nov. 2, the Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit alleging that it is illegal for counties to allow voters to return absentee ballots until Nov. 4.
According to WTOC, Trump campaign Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the lawsuit at an event on Nov. 2: “The Republican National Committee and team Trump, we filed litigation. We learned that in four counties, including Fulton County, Democrat election officials were—one trying to process ballots after the deadline last night and two trying to open additional drop boxes that were not predetermined prior.”
According to The New York Times, Judge Kevin M. Farmer of the Superior Court of Fulton County dismissed earlier arguments from lawyers for the plaintiffs and flatly told the lawyers in court after reading Georgia election law aloud, “That seems to indicate that personal delivery to the registrar and not to a drop box is kosher. And more than kosher, lawful.”
According to Reuters, the Georgia Supreme Court sided with the Republican National Committee’s lawyers in another case.
Georgia’s high court ruled on Nov. 4 that Cobb County couldn’t extend its deadline for counting approximately 3,000 absentee ballots sent out before Election Day, reversing a lower court’s decision.
However, GOP election officials in Georgia have been unwilling to accept claims of election interference from former President Trump and his political allies.
According to Politico, Gabriel Sterling, the COO for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, posted to his X account that no election laws had been broken on Nov. 2.
“To be clear, no election laws were broken in Georgia today. The law clearly states that govt buildings can be used to receive absentee ballots. A judge said so this morning. Monitors, observers, & SOS investigators were all in Fulton locations. One hundred and four ballots dropped off there,” Sterling said.
The challenges from the Trump campaign and other Republican parties are likely grounded in an attempt to establish challenges to the 2024 election if the former president loses again.
However, Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, have not seen eye to eye after Trump urged him to “find” ballots in Georgia that would have overturned President Joe Biden’s win in Georgia during the 2020 election.
That instance was a key part of the lawsuit charging Trump with election interference in Georgia, which has now stalled after Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis’ romantic involvement with a top prosecutor on the case became the focus of the defense team.
Raffensperger said, “The eyes of the world are on Fulton County. Local officials must ensure that every process from now until election day and after is transparent and in accordance with Georgia law, given the history of controversy in the county’s election administration.”
Dana Remus, an attorney who is working as outside counsel for Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, called the lawsuits “silly” during a phone call with Politico reporters.
“In this last home stretch, we’re seeing a lot of frankly really silly suits,” Remus said. “So, when they bring these cases, we respond, and then we’re clearing the record and winning.”
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