On Thursday, federal judges dismissed two GOP lawsuits over Georgia absentee ballot rules. Republicans attempted to change guidelines surrounding absentee ballots in the state. U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall rejected the first case. The Twelfth Congressional District Republican Committee lawsuit attempted to prohibit absentee ballot drop boxes for the January 5th runoffs.
“We are not even on the eve of an election. We are, as it relates to this particular election, closing in on halftime,” Hall said.
Last week The National Republican Senatorial Committee, along with Georgia Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, filed the second lawsuit in Atlanta.
They were attempting to have stricter monitoring of absentee ballot signatures. They argued that the current process could allow illegal votes to be counted because only ballots with challenged signatures are reviewed by three election workers. The lawsuit states the state’s rules treat ballots differently and was seeking to have all ballots reviewed by three people. Attorneys for the Democratic Party and the Georgia Secretary of State stated that claims of election fraud were unsupported and lacked evidence, therefore the GOP had no grounds for the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross agreed.
Early in-person voting began on December 14. In just two days, over 423,000 Georgia residents cast ballots. Early voting runs through December 30 for the January 5 runoff election.
