A Georgia judge on Thursday dismissed most of a lawsuit that alleged there were fraudulent mail-in ballots in Fulton County from the 2020 presidential election, dealing a potential blow to a group of local voters that has pushed to inspect all 147,000 absentee ballots cast in the state’s largest county last November.
Superior Court Judge Brian Amero on Thursday dismissed seven of the lawsuit’s nine claims against Fulton County officials on the basis of Georgia’s sovereign immunity laws. Amero did not dismiss two counts in the lawsuit that sought digital images of the mail-in ballots through the state’s open records law.
Fulton County election officials and local representatives have repeatedly asserted that there has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, a claim perpetuated by former president Donald Trump, who has continued to baselessly allege that the election was stolen from him. President Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes, the first time the state had gone for a Democrat since 1992.
Amero’s ruling prompted a blistering statement from Robb Pitts, chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, who called on “this whole circus” to end. Georgia officials have already conducted three audits of the 2020 election ballots, including a hand recount, which produced no evidence of widespread fraud.
“This lawsuit is the result of meritless claims and the Big Lie. The votes have been counted three times, including a hand recount, and no evidence of widespread fraud was found,” Pitts said.
“Last year, I told President Trump and others who push the Big Lie to ‘put up or shut up.’ It’s been six months and still no proof of wrongdoing has been produced. Enough is enough — this whole circus must end,” Pitts added.
Don Samuel, an attorney for the Fulton County elections board, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they plan to file to have the rest of the lawsuit dismissed, too, and that Amero’s ruling means the plaintiffs cannot inspect the absentee ballots with high-powered microscopes as they had planned.