Georgia IN RE: ENFORCEMENT OF ELECTION LAWS AND SECURING BALLOTS CAST OR RECEIVED AFTER 7:00 P.M. ON NOVEMBER 3, 2020

Regarding 53 ballots; was filed by the Trump campaign and the Georgia Republican Party on November 4 in the Chatham County Superior Court of the Eastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia.

4. The Trump Campaign has direct standing to bring this a claim to enforce the
Georgia Election Code for the reasons set forth herein.

5. Failing to ensure that Georgia’s election laws are followed directly harms the
GAGOP’s organizational missions of increasing voter turnout and helping to elect
Republican candidates. The GAGOP has expended extraordinary resources to encourage
Georgians to vote in the 2020 campaign, and the failure to safely store absentee ballots
received by the Chatham County Board of Elections (“CCBE”) after 7:00 P.M. on
November 3, 2020 (“Election Day”), as required by O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(F), and the
possible counting of absentee ballots arriving after 7:00 P.M. on Election Day frustrates
that organizational mission and dilutes lawful votes for Republican candidates in state,
local, and federal contests.

6.
Failing to ensure that absentee ballots received after the deadline are stored in a
manner to ensure that such ballots are not inadvertently or intentionally counted, as
required under Georgia law, harms the interests of the Trump Campaign and President Trump because it could lead to the dilution of legal votes cast in support of President
Trump
7.
Further, the possible counting of votes arriving after 7:00 P.M. on Election Day
caused and will continue to cause a diversion of the Petitioners’ resources. Petitioners
must spend resources to inform election officials of the problem and ensure that lawful
votes are protected from dilution.
8.
Finally, the GAGOP has associational standing based on injuries to its members.
The GAGOP’s members include current elected officials and hopeful Republican
candidates for office, including candidates on the ballot in Fulton County. These
candidates are injured if fewer voters are able to cast their ballots because the polling
places opened late. The GAGOP members in Chatham County also include members of
the Chatham County Republican Party who work to further the GAGOP’s mission and
work in Chatham County. The GAGOP’s members are also part of the affected electorate
itself, which will certainly be injured if their votes are diluted by the counting of unlawful
votes that are received after the deadline.
9.
Absentee by Mail votes that are received after 7 P.M. on Election Day are subject
to the following procedure:
All absentee ballots returned to the board or absentee ballot clerk after the
closing of the polls on the day of the primary or election shall be safely
kept unopened by the board or absentee ballot clerk and then transferred to the appropriate clerk for storage for the period of time required for the
preservation of ballots used at the primary or election and shall then,
without being opened, be destroyed in like manner as the used ballots of
the primary or election
O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(F).
10.
Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 21-2-412, “[a]t least one judge of the superior court of each
judicial circuit shall be available in his or her circuit on the day of each primary or election
from 7:00 A.M. eastern standard time … until 10:00 P.M. eastern standard time and so
long thereafter as it may appear … necessary to secure a free, fair, and correct
computation and canvass of votes cast at such … election. During such period the court
shall issue process, if necessary, to enforce and secure compliance with the … election
laws and shall decide such other matters pertaining to the primary or election as may be
necessary to carry out the intent of this chapter.” (Emphasis added).
11.
As stated above, this Court has broad power to ensure the election is carried out
pursuant to Georgia law.
12.
There has been litigation around extending the deadline for receipt of absentee
ballots and a court-ordered extension of the deadline was stayed by the Eleventh Circuit
Court of Appeals. New Ga. Project v. Raffensperger, 976 F.3d 1278 (11th Cir. 2020). 13.
A significant degree of confusion may still exist regarding whether ballots
received after 7:00 P.M. can be legally counted in Georgia—and they cannot.
14.
While at the CCBE’s Elections Facility on November 4, 2020, a GAGOP poll
watcher witnessed absentee ballots that had not been properly processed apparently
mixed into a pile of absentee ballots that was already set to be tabulated. The proper chain
of custody for the ballots was not followed. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is the
Declaration of Sean Pumphrey regarding what he witnessed.
15.
Despite attempts by the poll watcher to obtain information from the CCBE
regarding the source of the absentee ballots in mixed into other, already-processed
absentee ballots being tabulated in Chatham County, no information to confirm the
source of such absentee ballots was provided to the poll watcher. Ex. A. Whether the
absentee ballots had been received by the CCBE prior to the close of the polls at 7:00 P.M.
on Election Day or that all such absentee ballots are being safely stored in accordance
with O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(F) remains unknown. As a result, Petitioners do not know
whether absentee ballots in Chatham County are being sufficiently accounted for or
whether absentee ballots received after the close of the polls at 7:00 P.M on Election Day
are being safely stored by the CCBE in accordance with Georgia law.
16.
Accordingly, Petitioners request this Court command the CCBE to collect, secure,
and safely store all absentee ballots received by the CCBE after 7:00 P.M. on Election Day
and provide an accounting of all such absentee ballots, including the number of ballots
received after 7:00 P.M. on Election Day, the name of the absentee voter, and the time and
date that such absentee ballot was received.
17.
The voters of Chatham County and Georgia generally are entitled under the
United States Constitution to equal protection of the laws of this State. U.S. Const.
Amend. XIV. This Court is empowered by law to ensure local officials follow the Georgia
Election Code, and is granted broad authority to designate the means by which it achieves
that end and to ensure that lawful votes are not diluted by the unlawful actions—
intentionally or otherwise. Under the current circumstances, the relief herein requested
is both prudent and necessary.
THEREFORE, Petitioner prays for the following relief:
a. That the Superior Court Judge issue an Order that requires the CCBE to
collect, secure, and safely store all absentee ballots received by the CCBE after 7:00 P.M.
on Election Day and provide an accounting of all such absentee ballots, including the
number of ballots received after 7:00 P.M. on Election Day, the name of the absentee voter,
and the time and date that such absentee ballot was received, to Petitioners.
b. That the CCBE shall, upon receiving, securing, and storing the affected
ballots in accordance with this petition, shall await further instruction from this Court as
to their final disposition.
c. Such other relief as the Court deems fair and equitable.