A Georgia judge threw out President Donald Trump and the Georgia GOP’s lawsuit seeking to halt the counting of ballots in the state Thursday.
Trump’s Georgia lawsuit was more specific than his challenges in other states, alleging that GOP poll watchers had witnessed an unidentified woman stack 53 absentee ballots that allegedly arrived to Chatham County after Election Day on top of a pile of absentee ballots that had arrived on or before Election Day.
The witnesses reportedly told the court they were not sure when the ballots had arrived, and Chatham County Superior Court Judge Adam Bass threw out the case, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (RELATED: We Spent Election Night Inside Trump’s White House Extravaganza — Here’s What It Was Like)
BREAKING: Judge DENIES the Georgia GOP and Trump campaign’s request and dismisses the petition in Chatham County. https://t.co/QkD32txTBU
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 5, 2020
Judge James Bass unceremoniously DENIES the Georgia GOP and Trump campaign’s request and dismisses the petition in Chatham County, in a sentence before the hearing abruptly adjourns.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 5, 2020
The ruling came less than an hour after the Trump campaign initially received a partial win in its lawsuit seeking greater access to observe the vote counting process in Pennsylvania. Its lawsuit in the state alleged GOP poll watchers hadn’t been granted “meaningful” access to observe votes being counted. In addition to requesting that access, the lawsuit called for all ballots that were counted be recounted under adequate GOP supervision.
A Pennsylvania judge initially granted the poll watchers the requested access, but did not order a recounting under GOP supervision. Democrats responded with a counter suit to block the GOP poll watchers’ access. A Judge has reportedly halted the voting until the question can be answered finally.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reportedly intervened and overturned the ruling in favor of the Trump campaign, however, and counting has resumed.
New from @mitchellreports: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overruled the Commonwealth Court ruling favoring the Trump campaign on watching the mail-in ballot count in Philadelphia. The mail-in counting is resuming.
— Amanda Golden (@amandawgolden) November 5, 2020
Trump has a third lawsuit pending in Michigan, which requests similar access to the voting process. The case has yet to get a ruling.