A judge in Georgia on Saturday dismissed a Republican lawsuit that sought to block voters from hand-returning mail-in ballots in the state over the weekend.
The lawsuit centered around officials in Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold, opening normally closed country offices on Saturday and Sunday to allow voters to hand in their ballots.
Five other Democratic-leaning counties in the state also announced that county offices would be open over the weekend.
Early voting in Georgia ended on Friday and the lawsuit, filed Friday night, cited a section of state law that says ballot drop boxes cannot be open past the end of advance voting.
But state law also states that voters can hand in mail ballots until the polls close on Tuesday night.
GOP lawyer Alex Kaufman argued in a Saturday emergency hearing that while it’s OK to mail absentee ballots, they shouldn’t be hand-delivered after early voting ends, but Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer rejected all of his arguments.
“I find that it is not a violation of those two code sections for a voter to hand-return their absentee ballots,” Farmer said.
A Fulton County spokesperson said on Saturday afternoon that only a couple dozen ballots had been returned to the four open county offices.
Former President Trump narrowly lost Georgia, a usually reliably Republican state, to President Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020, and afterward Trump made unsubstantiated accusations of fraud in Fulton County.
Both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have been actively campaigning in the state, now considered a battleground.
Time to END “no excuse” mail- in ballots, AND “non permanent ballot” machines! Paper ballots for all, either ink or key punch style! Further, NO counting ballots by a single party’s reps: either both parties are equally represented at all times and participating in the count, or all ballots counted without that get TOSSED, period! No ballots added past the cut off time, period. And, if need be, supervisory teams in post offices and on deliveries to insure mail-in ballots are delivered properly both ways, to insure none are mass delivered at a single address or “go missing”. Anyone hand delivering must be pre-designated by the voter, and present photo ID at the delivery, and may only deliver such ballots as designated. No more provisional ballots either. Get your arse in and get registered, or check to be sure you are, should have a current voter registration card if you are registered: that’s YOUR job as a citizen! If you’re registered your name will be on the list at your polling place. Makes voting quicker for all, AND it’s better protected against fraud! This monkey business is just NUTS, and covering up fraud!