Election-fraud lawsuit tossed in Georgia

Election workers in Atlanta begin a recount of Fulton County ballots on Nov. 14.
(AP file photo)
Election workers in Atlanta begin a recount of Fulton County ballots on Nov. 14. (AP file photo)

ATLANTA -- A judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit alleging fraud in Georgia's most populous county during the 2020 election. The suit sought a review of some 147,000 absentee ballots to see if any were illegitimate.

The lawsuit was originally filed in December and alleged evidence of fraudulent ballots and improper ballot counting in Fulton County. It was filed by nine Georgia voters and spearheaded by Garland Favorito, a longtime critic of Georgia's election systems.

Henry County Superior Court Chief Judge Brian Amero's order dismissing the case says the voters who brought the lawsuit "failed to allege a particularized injury" and therefore lacked the standing to claim that their state constitutional rights to equal protection and due process had been violated.

Amero also noted that Georgia's secretary of state's office on Tuesday provided a "substantive and detailed response" to his request for an update on any investigations into allegations of fraudulent or counterfeit ballots in Fulton County.

Favorito expressed frustration after the ruling, saying his team had "prepared diligently to show the evidence of our allegations" at a hearing the judge had previously scheduled for Nov. 15. He said an appeal is planned.

Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts celebrated the lawsuit's dismissal.

"Today was a win for democracy," he said in an emailed statement. "This lawsuit was the result of the Big Lie, which is nothing more than a meritless conspiracy theory being spread by people who simply cannot accept that their side lost. Its defeat here today should echo throughout the nation."

Angered by his narrow loss in a traditionally red state, former President Donald Trump focused his fury on Georgia, and particularly on Fulton County. He and his allies harshly criticized top Republican elected officials in the state for not acting to overturn his loss.

The ballot review effort in Fulton County was one of a number of similar reviews and audits that Trump supporters and others pursued, alleging fraud during the 2020 general election. State and federal election officials have repeatedly said there was no evidence of widespread fraud.

Though he was not directly involved in the Georgia lawsuit, Trump issued a statement Wednesday blasting the judge's ruling.

The lawsuit filed by Favorito and others relied heavily on sworn affidavits from several people who participated in a hand recount of the ballots and said they saw suspicious-looking ballots.

Lawyers with the state attorney general's office on Tuesday filed a response brief on behalf of the secretary of state that details investigative steps taken in response to the claims. Investigators interviewed witnesses and examined about 1,000 absentee ballots and ballot images. They did not uncover any ballots matching those described by the people who swore affidavits or that otherwise appeared to be fraudulent or counterfeit, the brief says.

The people who submitted affidavits said they saw absentee ballots that looked as if they had been marked by machine rather than by hand and had not been creased as they would have been to fit in an envelope.

The secretary of state's brief says investigators examined the ballots in the batches and box identified by one person who participated in the hand count, but all had been creased and none appeared to have been marked by a computer. The woman then told investigators she may have been mistaken and gave them another box number, but investigators determined that the box-batch combination she cited didn't exist.

The lawsuit also included previously debunked allegations that election workers at State Farm Arena in Atlanta pulled "suitcases" of ballots from under a table after observers and members of the media left for the night and scanned the ballots multiple times.

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