A Georgia judge has dismissed a Republican lawsuit attempting to prevent counties from operating election offices over the weekend to accept hand-delivered absentee ballots.
The GOP plaintiffs argued that Fulton County’s decision to open the election offices on Nov. 2 and 3 where voters could hand-deliver absentee ballots directly to registrars was unsupported by state law and violated rules requiring that ballot boxes be locked after early voting, which ended Friday.
Plaintiffs said the lack of poll watchers to observe the absentee (or mail-in) ballot intake by local election officials compromised election integrity.
During a court hearing on Nov. 2, Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer denied the emergency petition filed by the Republican plaintiffs late on Nov. 1, finding that state law allows for voters to hand-deliver absentee ballots directly to registrars and that no ballot drop boxes were open at the election offices that Fulton County decided to keep open over the weekend….