Georgia judge rejects GOP lawsuit trying to block counties from accepting hand-returned mail ballots

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia judge connected Saturday rejected a Republican suit trying to artifact counties from opening predetermination offices connected Saturday and Sunday to fto voters manus successful their message ballots successful person.

The suit only named Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that includes astir of nan metropolis of Atlanta and is location to 11% of nan state’s voters. But astatine slightest 5 different populous counties that thin to ballot for Democrats besides announced predetermination offices would unfastened complete nan play to let manus return of absentee ballots.

The suit was revenge precocious Friday and cited a conception of Georgia rule that says ballot driblet boxes cannot beryllium unfastened past nan extremity of beforehand voting, which ended Friday. But authorities rule says voters tin present their absentee ballots successful personification to region predetermination offices until nan adjacent of polls astatine 7 p.m. connected Election Day. Despite that clear wording, lawyer Alex Kaufman initially claimed successful an emergency proceeding Saturday that voters aren’t allowed to hand-deliver absentee ballots that were mailed to them.

Kaufman past based on that voters should beryllium blocked from hand-delivering their ballots betwixt nan adjacent of early in-person voting connected Friday and nan opening of Election Day connected Tuesday, moreover though he said it was good for ballots to get by message during that period. It has agelong been nan believe for Georgia predetermination offices to judge message ballots complete nan counter.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer, successful an online hearing, many times rejected Kaufman’s arguments earlier orally ruling against him.

“I find that it is not a usurpation of those 2 codification sections for a elector to hand-return their absentee ballots,” Farmer said.

Republicans person been focused connected nan behaviour of elections successful Fulton County for years, aft President Donald Trump falsely blamed Fulton County workers for defrauding him of nan 2020 predetermination successful Georgia.

State GOP president Josh McKoon accused counties controlled by Democrats of “illegally accepting ballots.” The rumor quickly gained traction online Saturday among Republican activists, peculiarly aft a Fulton County predetermination charismatic sent an email to elections workers saying that observers would not beryllium allowed to beryllium wrong predetermination offices while ballots were turned in.

Fulton County elections head Nadine Williams said during nan proceeding that these were region offices and not polling places, and frankincense partisan canvass watchers person ne'er been allowed to observe those spaces.

But hours later, Williams sent retired an email clarifying that nan process should beryllium unfastened to nan nationalist and nary credentials aliases badges were needed. She noted that members of nan independent monitoring squad that is watching Fulton County’s predetermination processes were besides connected tract and that investigators from nan caput of state’s agency mightiness besides beryllium present.

Fulton County spokesperson Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez said that arsenic of conscionable earlier 5 p.m. Saturday, 105 ballots had been received astatine nan 4 locations.