Lawsuit Seeks New Election - in Georgia

[diva77]

Press release from
Coalition for Good Governance
Marilyn Marks, Executive Director
704 292 9802, [e-mail]
Coalition for Good Governance and 3 Voters Challenge
Lieutenant Governor Election

Atlanta—On Friday night, Coalition for Good Governance and three Georgia voters filed a lawsuit to challenge the results of the Lieutenant Governor’s race in the election held on November 6, 2018. The large number of missing votes and other significant election irregularities form the basis for the election contest. The lawsuit alleges that an accurate result in the second-highest office on the ballot cannot be determined because of flaws and malfunctions in the electronic voting system. The plaintiffs are seeking a prompt second election for the office, conducted on an auditable election system. The lawsuit names Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden and the Election Boards of Fulton, Gwinnett, and DeKalb Counties as defendants.

The lawsuit highlights the large difference in votes for all other statewide races and the low reported participation rate for the Lieutenant Governor’s race. The Lieutenant Governor’s race reported only 3,780,034 votes, while every other statewide race tally exceeded 3.843 million votes. The Governor’s race tallied 3.939 million votes and the remaining eight statewide races averaged 3.86 million votes. The plaintiffs allege that this high under-vote rate is a likely result of the touchscreen voting system malfunctions, and that the un-auditable system does not permit a reliable determination of the vote count. Plaintiffs cite the strong indication of error in the touchscreen system results that differ greatly from those counted on paper ballots (mail ballots and provisional ballots), as the paper ballots show high participation rates and very little undervoting in the Lieutenant Governor’s race.

SNIP

The lawsuit seeks the following key remedies:
- a new election for the Lieutenant Governor’s office.
- that the new election be conducted on paper ballots read by optical scanners.
- correction of the voter registration records and electronic pollbook discrepancies to avoid voter disenfranchisement.
- improved absentee mail ballot procedures to avoid rejection of eligible voters’ ballots.

“There were numerous warnings prior to the November election concerning the use of the DREs and other technologies that were vulnerable to hacking and unauthorized modification,” stated Ronnie Martin, an Atlanta-based plaintiff. “These warnings came from experts in the fields of computer security and election processes. Unfortunately, election officials in the state of Georgia chose to ignore the warnings. The undervote count for the Lieutenant Governor race is the canary in the coal mine, alerting us to an obvious effect of the many voting irregularities that have been experienced and reported by qualified Georgia voters.”
SNIP

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Coalition for Good Governance website:
https://www.coalitionforgoodgovernance.org/
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If they are able to win this and re-do the election, that would be a major breakthrough for election integrity

[brooklynite]

1. No chance this suit will be successful

A 2% drop-off in a down ballot race not consequential. The flip is that 98% of the voters could and did find the race on the ballot. And absent evidence of INTENT to affect the vote outcome, there's no legal basis to demand a revote.

[aikoaiko]

3. As a Georgian, I think you are correct.

Still, I think the idea is to create the culture of fighting for every vote to be counted and confront voter suppression any way we can.

And there is always the possibility that discovery can yield something worthwhile.

[diva77]

6. Exactly.

[diva77]

4. This suit follows an earlier one pending in federal court -which was not just about Lt gov race

more from same press release:

The claims in the election contest filed Friday night reflect many of the issues raised in the Curling v. Kemp lawsuit regarding Georgia’s flawed electronic voting system. Coalition for Good Governance also organized that 2017 lawsuit now pending in federal court. The Secretary of State and the State Election Board have appealed the Court’s ruling in that case, which is expected to be tried in 2019.

Bruce Brown, Atlanta-based attorney representing the plaintiffs, commented, “Citizens must not permit flawed elections to stand. Otherwise our democratic process fails. Until Georgia election officials commit to conduct fair and verifiable elections, the courts must intervene on behalf of Georgia voters. We look forward to a prompt resolution to this case and a new election conducted in a responsible and legal manner.”

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Curling v. Kemp https://coaltionforgoodgovernance.sharefile.com/share/view/s5a32fac259b4f249

[MichMan]

8. Has there ever been a re do of an election before?

How would this be administrated on who is eligible?


Only people that were registered voters in the original election?

What about those who didn't vote the first time?

Or lived out of state and moved to Georgia or have moved away since the election?

What about those that turned 18 or passed away since the election?

[diva77]

10. very recently in GA - a rethug primary election

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/18/politics/georgia-legislature-district-voting-election-errors-primary-republicans/index.html

Georgia district is ordered to redo primary election after voting errors

By Curt Devine, CNN Fri September 21, 2018

A judge said he will order a Georgia Legislature district to redo a primary election between two Republicans because errors in voter data called the results into question.
The announcement came in response to a lawsuit filed by state Rep. Dan Gasaway that challenged the legitimacy of the election he lost by 67 votes to businessman Chris Erwin in May. Following his loss, Gasaway personally examined voter rolls and determined that "cross-contamination" in his district's voter information had led to at least 67 people voting in the wrong district, according to his lawsuit.
At a hearing for the case Tuesday in Northeast Georgia's Banks County, Judge David Sweat said it was unclear who the misallocated residents would have voted for, therefore a new election was required.

"The court's real concern is that people have confidence in our elections," Sweat said.
Gasaway told CNN he felt vindicated by the judge's decision and he plans to start campaigning all over again.
"We've worked on this for a very long time. It's important for voters to know that their votes matter," he said.
The repeat primary election will be on Dec. 4, and because there is no Democratic challenger, the winner will automatically become the district's state representative, according to the judge's order signed on Thursday.
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I'm not sure of the latest with this case

[diva77]

12. here is amended complaint from Gasaway (cannot find original complaint)

https://www.scribd.com/document/382357135/2018-06-20-HD28-Election-Contest-Amended-Complaint

[Takket]

2. they may as well just sue to have Abrahms declared the winner because that is every

bit as likely to succeed.

they would need to bring hard data from the voting machines to support their theory, otherwise all they have a theory, and it is already late november. no way this lawsuit can be adjudicated and an entire statewide election put together, voted on and tallied before January.

[diva77]

5. The coalition is not unaware of the uphill battle - here is another excerpt from OP press release:

This lawsuit is the fourth lawsuit that Coalition for Good Governance has organized in Georgia since mid-2017 demanding fair and verifiable election systems. The lawsuits have increased public awareness, voters’ demands for fair elections, and court orders that have vindicated voters’ rights.

[diva77]

7. kik -- because this is so important!!!! Please K&R because these lawsuits are what it's gonna take

to expose and overcome corruption having to do with elections.

[brooklynite]

9. Has it occurred to you that when the Lawsuit is thrown out...

...Conservatives will say they've been "acquitted"?

[diva77]

11. "conservatives" will say whatever suits them. Anyone with a sense of ethics knows it's the right

thing to demand election integrity. Even if the case is thrown out, there is a growing sense of awareness that elections officials need to be held more accountable and elections need to be more secure and transparent.