A group of Georgia voters recently filed suit seeking to force a review of nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots in the state’s largest county.
Although Fulton County officials are fighting hard against the lawsuit, the Washington Examiner reports that a judge in the Peach State has just dealt the Democrat bureaucrats a major setback.
County has immunity, but officials don’t
Last Thursday, Henry County Superior Court Chief Judge Brian Amero handed down a four-page ruling in which he agreed that Garland Favorito and eight other voters were precluded from suing Fulton County, its elections board, or its clerk’s office under the legal doctrine known as 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,” Amero wrote.
However, the judge declared that the petitioners were able to sue elections board members individually, and said he would allow them to be added as plaintiffs.
He declared that “hereafter, Alex Wan, Mark Wingate, Kathleen Ruth, Vernetta Nuriddin, and Aaron Johnson, are joined as Respondents to this action.”
Moving forward
Favorito, who is co-founder of the group VoterGA, welcomed Amero’s remarks following the hearing, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “We just want Fulton to be held responsible.”
“We could be moving forward any time now unless they try to stall again,” he added. “Fulton may make a new desperation move to postpone it.”
Meanwhile, elections board attorney Don Samuel has signaled his intention to seek a dismissal of the case, contending that there is no evidence of personal wrongdoing on the parts of individual board members, the Examiner reported.
“Over the goal line”
The push for an audit comes amid concerns expressed by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters that Joe Biden’s thin victory in Georgia and other swing states last November may have been the result of irregularities.
Still, opponents insist that fraud did not determine the race’s outcome — a claim they say is buttressed by the finding of independent election observer Carter Jones.
“They got it over the goal line,” Jones was quoted by the Examiner as saying of Fulton County’s election operations. “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 Judge grants partial victory to Georgia voters in suit to force election audit first appeared on Conservative Institute.
No comments: