A temporary restraining order issued by Georgia’s federal judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner, on Monday, against a Republican attempt to remove some voters from the lists before the special Senate elections in January, caused controversy. Judge Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who founded the Fair Fight voting group.
Georgia’s electoral process is under close scrutiny at both national and local levels. President Donald Trump said he won the state presidential election despite several recounts of votes, all showing that Biden was the winner. In January, Georgia is due to hold a special election for two seats in the Senate. The outcome of this election will determine which party will have control of the Senate. While Trump’s allegations of widespread electoral fraud have not been substantiated so far, some minor cases of electoral irregularities in Georgia have been reported.
In December, Muscogee County Republican Party President Ralph Russell contested the residential qualifications of 4,033 voters. Russell claimed in his lawsuit that these individuals had moved “to a location outside Muscogee County, moved to another state with the intention of making the new state their home”. Russell said these voters were not allowed to vote in January’s run-off elections.
The Democratic challenge to Russell’s filing came from Majority Forward, a voting advocacy group that claimed that Russell had used the US Postal Service’s incorrect address change to support his claims. Judge Gardner supported the Democratic group, allowing voters named in the Russell process to vote in the January election.
“While the court recognizes that an injunction can overwhelm defendants in their role in administering the ongoing election,” Gardner decided, “the damage to voters whose right to vote is unfairly prevented or denied is far greater.”
In a statement on Monday, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called Gardner’s decision “a direct attack on the rule of law in Georgia and the integrity of elections in Georgia”. Raffensperger claimed that Gardner ignored aspects of Georgia’s electoral laws that could have worked for Republicans in his decision.
According to the call list, Majority Forward is the nonprofit arm of the Senate majority’s PAC, affiliated with Democrats. Fair Fight, an organization founded by Abrams, donated US $ 2.5 million to the PAC of the majority of the Senate. Raffensperger drew a connection between Abram’s financial activities and Gardner’s decision.
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“The fact that a judge decides on a case brought by a group heavily funded by his sister is very worrying,” added Raffensperger.
Because of her connection to Abrams, Gardner was asked to withdraw from the case by Republicans in Muscogee County and Ben Hill County, who was also affected by Gardner’s decision. According to the refusal request, Abrams’ involvement in various voting processes gave her “a clear interest in the outcome of this process”, allowing outside observers “to have significant doubts about Judge Gardner’s bias under the circumstances.”
Newsweek contacted Fair Fight for comment.
Gardner refused to withdraw from the case, despite having the opportunity to do so. “The Court considered the motion and found no basis for the refusal,” wrote Gardner. “An order detailing the Court’s reasoning is coming soon.”
Despite being a member of the same political party, Trump criticized Raffensperger for how Georgia conducts its elections. In December, Trump tweeted that if Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue lost the election, Raffensperger would be among the “only responsible”. Trump also referred to Raffensperger, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Deputy Governor Geoff Duncan as “RINOS [Republicans In Name Only]. “
Trump also targeted Georgia election officials after losing state to Biden. In a manual recount of the ballots in November, more than 3,000 ballots were discovered that had not been counted in the original tabulation. However, not enough ballots were found to alter the election results.
Appearing at a campaign event in December in support of Loeffler and Perdue, Trump warned that the Senate election could be manipulated. “They cheated and rigged our presidential election, but we are still going to win it,” Trump told the crowd. “And they will try to defraud this election as well.”