Federal Judge Rejects Trump Attorney’s Bid to Delay Georgia Certification of Votes
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed an effort brought by a Trump attorney seeking for a delay in certification of vote totals in Georgia, and for a declaration that any recount must be done according to the state’s election code.
Lin Wood, an attorney with Trump’s reelection campaign and a voter in Fulton County, filed a motion (pdf) to delay the certification of votes in Georgia.
In addition to requesting a delay in vote certification, the motion also alleged that the recent recount in Georgia “has not been conducted in a manner consistent with the Georgia Election Code,” and asked the court to declare that any recount must be redone in a way “consistent with the Georgia Election Code.”
U.S. District Court Judge Steven Grimberg dismissed the effort on Thursday, in a ruling that Wood called “unclear.”
The judge said that the decision was based on his view that Wood has a lack of legal standing as an individual voter to challenge Georgia’s election procedures.
Prior to filing the motion, Wood filed a lawsuit against Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and election officials in a bid to stop the certification of election results, arguing that an agreement between election officials and the state’s Democrat Party earlier in March that changed the process of handling absentee ballots in Georgia is unconstitutional.
The move could have invalidated absentee ballots cast in the 2020 election, the filing (pdf) said. As such, the counting of absentee ballots for the general election in the state is therefore “improper and must not be permitted,” the suit argued.
Grimberg said on Thursday that neither the Republican Party nor the Trump campaign had joined the suit, which “certainly would have changed the analysis when it comes to standing.”
The judge, an appointee of President Donald Trump, also said that the evidence presented in the motion is short of what is required to delay certifying the election.
“It would require halting the certification of results in a state election in which millions of people have voted,” he said, reported Politico. “It would interfere with an election after the voting was done.”
Furthermore, the suit was brought too late and “does not have merit,” Grimberg said. He also said that there is no constitutional right to monitor an election, and “To halt the certification at literally the 11th hour, would breed confusion and disenfranchisement that I find have no basis in fact and law.”
‘Unclear’ Ruling
Wood on Twitter responded saying that Grimberg’s oral ruling was “unclear” and that “he may have overreached to dismiss my claim that [the] election was unlawful due to [Georgia Secretary of State] consent agreement,” referring to the changing of rules by election officials in March.
“The recount issue was separate from unlawful election issue. Sounded like Court thinks a GA voter has NO standing to challenge unlawful federal election,” he wrote. “Lawyer for [Secretary of State] suggested only state [Attorney General] could do so. What? [Attorney General] represents [Secretary of State]. Makes no sense.”
“GA voters have rights. It is OUR right to vote. We The People must have legal right to challenge backroom deals cut by state officials. They will not sue each other,” he added. “An appeal will be filed to Eleventh Circuit. I did not do this for GA voters because it was easy. Stay tuned.”
Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser to the Trump campaign, separately issued a general statement on Thursday asserting that Georgia “should not” certify its results.
“This so-called hand recount went exactly as we expected because Georgia simply recounted all of the illegal ballots that had been included in the total,” she alleged. “We continue to demand that Georgia conduct an honest recount, which includes signature matching. We intend to pursue all legal options to ensure that only legal ballots are counted.”
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