Last November, Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Georgia since former President Bill Clinton’s victory there in 1992. But President Biden’s razor-thin margin of victory — and lingering suspicions of voting irregularities in places including the Peach State’s Fulton County — led some in the state to push for an audit.
According to the Washington Examiner, nine Georgia voters have filed suit in an attempt to make it happen. And on Thursday, a judge announced that he’d decided to allow the case to proceed.
“Held responsible”
In his four-page decision, Henry County Superior Court Chief Judge Brian Amero ruled that claims against Fulton County, as well as its board of elections and county clerk, are precluded under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
“Petitioners have failed to meet their burden to show an applicable waiver of sovereign immunity such that their constitutional claims may proceed against these governmental actors in the petition’s current form,” the judge wrote.
Amero went on to note, however, that the petitioners could continue their suit by naming individual members of the Fulton County Board of Elections as defendants.
He declared that “hereafter, Alex Wan, Mark Wingate, Kathleen Ruth, Vernetta Nuriddin, and Aaron Johnson, are joined as Respondents to this action.”
The lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, Garland Favorito, seemed pleased by the ruling.
“We just want Fulton to be held responsible,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We could be moving forward any time now unless they try to stall again. Fulton may make a new desperation move to postpone it.”
“Got over the goal line”
Meanwhile, Don Samuel, who serves as an attorney for the elections board, has reportedly announced plans to seek a dismissal of claims against the individual board members, contending that there is no evidence of misconduct on their part.
Critics of the lawsuit point to a report from Carter Jones, who acted as an independent election observer.
Jones recently told reporters that although Fulton County did a less than ideal job of handling the vote counting, he saw no evidence of “dishonesty, fraud or intentional malfeasance.”
“They got it over the goal line,” Jones explained, according to the Examiner. “They made their numbers add up. Yes, the vehicle was held together by duct tape and chewing gum, but it got over the goal line.”
The post Georgia judge greenlights suit seeking further review of Fulton County ballots first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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