Judge Blocks Voter Purge in Two GA Counties

Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, Sister of Stacey Abrams, Rejected a Call for her to Recuse from the Case, Blocks Voter Purge in Two Georgia Counties.

Gardner Ordered the Counties to Reverse a Decision Removing more than 4,000 Voters from the Rolls ahead of the Jan. 5th Senate Runoff Elections that will decide Control of the U.S. Senate.

The Bulk of the Registrations that the Counties sought to Rescind were in Muscogee County and an additional 150 were from Ben Hill County.

The Suit, brought by the National Democratic Party Attorney, Marc Elias’ Group “Majority Forward”, followed an Effort to Challenge the Roster of Voters simply because their Registrations appeared to match U.S. Postal Service Change-of-Address Records.

Voting Officials in the Two Counties agreed to Remove the Voters, despite Warnings from Democrats that such Postal Data is Not a Reliable or Conclusive Indicator that a Voter has Given Up their Local Residence.

After Gardner’s Ruling, Elias hailed the Decision as a “blow to GOP voter suppression.”

“We continue to monitor how other Georgia counties respond to the suppression scheme,” he added. “Where necessary, we will sue and we will win.”

The Evidence to Challenge the 4,000 Registrations in Muscogee County was particularly sparse. The Challenge was lodged Dec. 14th by a Local Voter named Ralph Russell who Alleged that he had Compared Evidence from Publicly Accessible Voter Registration Databases to prove that these Voters had Moved Out of Georgia.

“I believe that each of the individuals named ... as a result of registering their name and change of address to a location outside of Muscogee County, removed to another state with the intention of making the new state their residence,” Russell told the County Board. “Thus, each individual has lost their residence in Muscogee County, and consequently, each individual is ineligible to vote in Muscogee County.”

But he did Not Check for Name Misspelling, Date of Birth, or the last time they Voted.

The Muscogee Board met Dec. 16th and backed Russell’s Motion 3-1, even though he didn’t Attend the Meeting and Provided No Additional Evidence to Support his Challenge. Voters on Russell’s List, per the Board, would be Required to Vote by Provisional Ballot and Present additional Evidence of Residency to Vote.

In Ben Hill County, the Board Voted 2-1 to Support a Challenge lodged by Tommy Roberts, a Member of the City Council in Fitzgerald, Georgia. Roberts similarly relied on Change-of-Address Data, and the Board backed him despite Evidence that the Data could Not be Verified and would be Inadmissible in Court.

“Despite this advice from the County Attorney, the Ben Hill Board voted to find that there was probable cause to sustain the challenges,” Gardner noted.

Gardner’s 11-page Ruling noted that the Removals of the Voters appeared to Violate Federal Law because they were Not given Proper Notice and because they Qualify as the Type of Systematic Voter Roll Cleaning that is Not Permitted within 90 days of a Federal Election.

The Muscogee Board filed a Motion earlier Arguing that Gardner must Remove herself from the Case based on her Relationship with her sister, Abrams.

Lawyers for the Board, described Abrams as “a Georgia politician and voting rights activist who was the Democratic candidate in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election and has since engaged in various highly publicized efforts to increase voter registration and turnout for the 2020 general election in Georgia.”

The Motion Requesting Gardner’s Recusal noted that a Voter Registration Group affiliated with Abrams, Fair Fight, filed a Suit in another Federal Court in Georgia last week Complaining that a National Organization dedicated to Targeting Voter Fraud, True the Vote, is making Unjustified Challenges to Georgia Voters in the Lead-Up to the Jan. 5th Runoffs.

“Abrams’ involvement in the Fair Fight Litigation ... is sufficient to satisfy the standard for mandatory judicial recusal,” the Board’s Attorneys wrote. “Abrams has a clear interest in the outcome of this proceeding and other similarly situated litigation in Georgia due to her voting advocacy through projects such as Fair Fight and the New Georgia Project.”

Gardner, an Appointee of President Barack Obama, noted the Recusal Request in her Ruling Granting the Restraining Order and said she is Declining to Step Aside. “The Court has reviewed the motion and finds no basis for recusal.” the Judge wrote.










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