Last
week,
Republicans
congratulated
themselves
for
their
YUUUGE
courtroom
victory
in
Pennsylvania.
The
Trump
campaign
successfully
petitioned
for
an
injunction
extending
the
deadline
to
cast
their
absentee
ballots
in
person
—
essentially
a
labor-intensive
workaround
for
Pennsylvania’s
ban
on
early,
in-person
voting.
Churlish
commentators
(it
me!)
noted
that
the
GOP
is
not
usually
in
the
habit
of
increasing
access
to
the
ballot,
and
their
whole
schtick
is
that
the
2020
election
was
#RIGGED
because
courts
changed
the
rules
in
the
middle
of
the
game
to
accommodate
COVID
safety
protocols.
But
fear
not!
Trump
and
his
minions
have
returned
to
form
and
are
now
spamming
state
and
federal
dockets
with
garbage
lawsuits
seeking
to
prevent
ballot
access.
The
fun
began
Friday
in
Georgia
where
regular
Trump
campaign
lawyer
Alex
Kaufman
sought
emergency
relief
on
behalf
of
the
Fulton
County
Republican
Party
and
the
Georgia
GOP.
The
petition
(via
Democracy
Docket)
alleged
that
county
election
officials
were
illegally
accepting
hand-delivered
absentee
ballots
over
the
weekend
in
violation
of
O.C.G.A.
§21-2-385.
Which
makes
complete
sense,
except
that
the
provision
of
law
cited
applies
to
ballot
drop
boxes
only,
not
absentee
ballots
hand
delivered
to
the
registrar.
Indeed,
the
very
statute
cited
in
this
case
says
“the
elector
shall
then
personally
mail
or
personally
deliver
same
to
the
board
of
registrars
or
absentee
ballot
clerk.”
Which
is
exactly
what
Judge
Kevin
Farmer
told
Kaufman
when
he
tossed
the
case
this
weekend.
But
Kaufman
was
not
deterred!
Instead
he
marched
into
the
Southern
District
of
Georgia,
this
time
on
behalf
of
the
RNC,
and
filed
the
same
damn
complaint.
Only
this
time
he
added
an
extra
14
pages
complaining
that
allowing
people
to
hand
deliver
absentee
ballots
in
some
counties
but
not
others
violates
the
Equal
Protection
Clause.
Plus
he
added
election
officials
in
Chatham,
Cobb,
Clarke,
Clayton,
Gwinnett,
and
DeKalb
Counties
as
defendants.
Because
if
the
registrars
responsible
for
counting
a
tiny
minority
of
counties
refuse
to
keep
their
offices
open
on
election
day,
then
election
officials
representing
the
vast
majority
of
the
state’s
residents
must also
keep
their
doors
closed.
It
says
so
in
the
Constitution!
(It
does
not.)
Georgia
Secretary
of
State
Brad
Raffensperger
noted
that
the
issue
was
not
ambiguous
as
a
matter
of
state
law.
“To
be
clear,
no
election
laws
were
broken
in
Georgia
today,”
echoed
his
deputy
Gabriel
Sterling.
“The
law
clearly
states
that
govt
buildings
can
be
used
to
receive
absentee
ballots.
A
judge
said
so
this
morning.”
This
afternoon,
the
parties
appeared
before
US
District
Judge
R.
Stan
Baker
for
a
scheduling
hearing.
The
defendants
will
have
until
9am
tomorrow
to
file
their
responses
opposing
the
motion
for
preliminary
injunction/TRO,
with
a
hearing
to
follow
at
12.
Lawyers
for
Fulton
County
pushed
back
hardest
in
court,
stating
upfront
that
they
do
not
believe
Judge
Baker
has
jurisdiction
and
refusing
to
voluntarily
sequester
the
ballots
at
issue,
since
Judge
Farmer
already
told
them
they
had
no
obligation
to
do
so
as
a
matter
of
Georgia
law.
Kaufman
tried
mightily
to
convince
the
court
to
order
the
County
to
do
it
anyway
—
effectively
a
pre-preliminary
injunction
—
but
Judge
Baker
refused.
So
tomorrow
we
can
hear
the
RNC
explain
to
a
federal
judge
why
eligible
voters
who
cast
their
ballots
in
accordance
with
the
law
as
understood
by
local
election
officials,
the
Georgia
Secretary
of
State,
and
a
Georgia
state
judge
should
be
disenfranchised.
Good
to
see
the
GOP
back
to
their
old
selves!
RNC
v.
Mahoney
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.