“Georgia high court hears appeal in election challenge”

AP:

Georgia’s highest court is mulling whether to reverse a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the outcome of November’s race for lieutenant governor in a case that focuses attention on the state’s outdated voting machines.


The lawsuit says tens of thousands of votes were never recorded in the race and the contest was “so defective and marred by material irregularities” as to place the result in doubt. It contends an unexplained undervote in the race was likely caused by problems with the state’s paperless touchscreen voting machines.


Republican Geoff Duncan beat Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico by 123,172 votes to become lieutenant governor. Amico is not a party to the lawsuit, which was filed in November by the Coalition for Good Governance, an election integrity advocacy organization; Smythe Duval, who ran for secretary of state as a Libertarian; and two Georgia voters. It was filed against Duncan and election officials.

Senior Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs dismissed the lawsuit in January. The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in an appeal of that dismissal.


The Supreme Court justices asked some pointed questions of both sides in their effort to determine whether the lower court judge abused her discretion in dismissing the case.

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