Posted on 11/16/2022 9:44:46 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A legal battle has broken out between the Warnock campaign and the Georgia secretary of state over the early voting dates leading up to the run-off election on December 6. Democrat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock is in a heated run-off race with Republican Herschel Walker. A problem has arisen with the dates of the early voting period.
As I wrote about on Monday, the day after Thanksgiving is an official state holiday. New election integrity reforms passed in Georgia shortened the timeline for run-off races. The run-off must take place four weeks after the general election. In this case, early voting should start “as soon as possible” but has to begin eight days ahead of the runoff, November 28. With this year’s schedule, early in-person voting includes Thanksgiving day. Counties can’t hold early voting on a federal holiday or two days afterward. So, that knocks out Friday and Saturday, too. Only some counties offer Sunday voting. The new abbreviated in-person early voting period lasts just one week. The Friday after Thanksgiving is a state holiday – formerly known as the celebration of Robert E. Lee’s birthday. Now it is just generically called a state holiday.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger at first gave the go-ahead for counties to hold early voting on Saturday, November 26. Then his office backtracked. The law that was passed in 2016 with bipartisan support which prohibits early voting on days immediately following a holiday was cited as the reason for Raffensperger’s change in his decision. Georgia law requires a week’s notice before advance voting begins, so time is of the essence. The major metro Atlanta counties, such as Fulton and Gwinnett, have committed to beginning early voting on Sunday, November 27. Early voting hours will be extended for the week – from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
According to Axios, Warnock said on Tuesday, “This is certainly something all of us should be able to agree on. “We just saw an election in November where the people of Georgia made it clear that they want to use Saturday voting.”
The other side: In a statement, Raffensperger accused Warnock and Democrats of “seeking to change Georgia law right before an election based on their political preferences.”
He accused them of “muddying the water and pressuring counties to ignore Georgia law.”
Enter the cries of voter suppression. The Warnock campaign, along with the Democratic Party of Georgia and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court on Tuesday. The lawsuit challenges Raffensperger’s interpretation that counties cannot early vote on Saturday, November 26. Voting rights groups and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent letters to counties calling for them to ignore Raffensperger’s opinion. They advise the counties to offer additional early voting. Democrats make up their own rules. Raffensperger’s opinion as secretary of state is the official state decision on that one date, as they well know.
Counties in Georgia can hold more days of early voting if they so choose. The Warnock campaign is concerned because 80,000 Georgians voted in person on the first Saturday of of early voting in the general election. Democrats took advantage of early voting more than Republicans did. Each county in Georgia can make their own voting hours and dates beyond the minimum requirement, in this case one week.
Warnock’s campaign said Raffensperger’s opinion is an “illegal attempt to block Saturday voting.”
“Illegal attempts to block Saturday voting are another desperate attempt by career politicians to squeeze the people out of their own democracy and to silence the voices of Georgians,” Quentin Fulks, Warnock’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “We’re aggressively fighting to protect Georgia voters’ ability to vote on Saturday.”
How is it an illegal attempt, though, if it is Georgia law? Raffensperger said the lawsuit is just politics.
“Senator Warnock and his Democratic Party allies are seeking to change Georgia law right before an election based on their political preferences,” he said. “Instead of muddying the water and pressuring counties to ignore Georgia law, Senator Warnock should be allowing county election officials to continue preparations for the upcoming runoff.”
To recap, state law requires at least five weekdays of early in-person voting beginning Monday, November 28. However, Georgia counties, all 159 of them, can open early in-person voting “as soon as possible” in a runoff. In my humble opinion, there is adequate opportunity for all voters to find a date to early vote in person if that is how they choose to vote in the run-off. This is just the Democrats trying to create some chaos in a run-off race that is tight, tight, tight.
A week of early voting plus run-off Election Day is plenty of time for run-offs. People won’t be voting in droves as they do on the normal Election Day. What’s with the two days after a holiday anyway?
If they cannot vote way early, then the chances of cheating go down….
How ridiculous - it is now an undue burden to only be able to vote for an entire week vs. what we used to be able to do in a single day.
More like this is a publicity stunt to stir up passions over “voter suppression” to help Warnock politically among certain voting blocks to boost their turnout.
“...What’s with the two days after a holiday anyway?...”
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Well, if staff is on holiday,
it’s kind of tough to get everything set up and secured.
All that stuff takes time, you know.
For two hundred years it lasted one day.
If you find it difficult to take some of your precious time to vote when given a week to do so, you have no business voting.
Warnock's people obviously need more ballot-printing time.
GA Dems. Are all energized I see.
Watch Ratburger cave in and sign a consent degree to give the Dems the GA Senate seat AGAIN!
There once was a time when there was one day only to vote in this country, and people managed to be okay with that, and get to the polls at some point during that one day. Now they’re having a problem with being given one week? They wouldn’t be happy if you gave them six months.
Once more Democrats are trying to suppress the voters ability to cast ballots.
This needs to become a national talking point by Republicans across the country. Democrats are the party of voter suppression.
I found this very encouraging. It’s basically an admission they can’t harvest enough votes to win in a week.
A week is too long.
We should vote the way we used to vote....the way Canada and every European country vote.
You
1) Show up on Election Day
2) Show government issued photo ID
3) Vote using a paper ballot
The paper ballots are then counted with both parties and even other parties having a meaningful right to observe and contest each ballot.
Contested ballots get judged by a committee composed of appointees from multiple parties.
The results are announced that evening.
The ballots are preserved, and the state conducts an audit of the election each time.
Colonel Phil Waldron - U.S. Army Intelligence “Information Warfare” expert. Russell Ramsland – Allied Security Agency – “Cyber Forensics” expert Dr. Shiva - MIT Technical Analysis Expert Patrick Colbeck - former State Senator Michigan – Pole challenger. Melissa Carone – “Hired by Dominion to do IT work on election day. Matt DePerno – Antrim County Michigan Atty. Mary Fanning – National Intelligence Researcher and author. Gen. Thomas McInerney – Foreign Intel Researcher Terry Turchie - former Director of Counter Terrorism at the FBI.
All exposed in a 2 hour video from Mike Lindell!...... but don't watch it cuz you'll learn the truth!!
https://www.bitchute.com/video/FtRYtna3YYe9/?fbclid=IwAR1Fpdn0jZI1khjcLmn6QSpJHlCfnb6WY92KkmZrWMk8gEXXYjTZGxfoUnQ
Funny that there is no mention in the Constitution of a week or a month to conduct an election.
Constitutionally, it is one day.
We don’t need haphazard election laws.
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