Thread: Federal judge rules to protect provisional ballots, Abrams' campaign cheers 'good new

Federal judge rules to protect provisional ballots, Abrams' campaign cheers 'good news'

By Edmund DeMarche | Fox News
Published 3 hours ago

Brian Kemp's camp pushes Stacey Abrams to concede in Georgia

Campaign manager for Democrat Stacey Abrams says Georgia's gubernatorial race is 'still too close to call'; Steve Harrigan reports from Atlanta.

A federal judge on Monday ruled in favor of Stacey Abrams’ campaign and ordered Georgia take steps to protect provisional ballots and to wait until Friday to certify the results of the midterm elections that include an unsettled race for governor.

Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams campaign manager, announced Judge Amy Totenberg's decision late Monday. WSBTV.com reported that the judge’s 56-page ruling could affect thousands of provisional ballots. Groh-Wargo called the ruling "good news."

Brian Kemp, her Republican challenger, issued a statement a day earlier calling for Abrams to concede. Kemp has declared victory and said it is "mathematically impossible" for her campaign to force a runoff.

Abrams' campaign did not immediately respond to a phone call from Fox News late Monday night.

Abrams, 44, a Democrat, has maintained that she will not concede until every vote has been counted, and pointed to the 5,000 votes tallied over the weekend that favored her.

Abrams' campaign filed a lawsuit on Sunday claiming that Kemp, while secretary of state, failed to maintain "the security of voter information despite known vulnerabilities" leading up to the midterm. The suit blasted the state's "provisional ballot scheme," that could disenfranchise a registered voter at the ballot box.

Dara Lindenbaum, a lawyer for Abrams’ campaign, said the suit intends to stop ballots with minor mistakes -- like the voter writing the day they filled out the ballot as their date of birth -- from being rejected.

But Kemp aides previously said Abrams has no path to victory and called her refusal to concede a "disgrace to democracy."

The suit pointed out cases where voters were turned around after computer glitches and cases where voters were not offered provisional ballots. One man voted for decades and was “disturbed” to learn his registration history was erased.

The court ruled that the secretary of state’s office must establish a hotline and publicize it on its website for voters to see if their provisional ballots were counted. Totenberg also ruled that Georgia must not certify the election results before Friday at 5 p.m., which falls before the Nov. 20 deadline set by state law.

Totenberg's order doesn't change the Tuesday deadline for counties to certify their results. But Abrams' campaign filed a lawsuit Sunday asking a federal court to push that deadline to Wednesday, while also requiring that elections authorities count certain provisional and absentee ballots that have been or would be rejected for "arbitrary reasons."

"I am fighting to make sure our democracy works for and represents everyone who has ever put their faith in it. I am fighting for every Georgian who cast a ballot with the promise that their vote would count," Abrams said in a statement explaining her refusal to end her bid to become the first black woman elected governor in American history.

A total of 21,190 provisional ballots were cast in the state during the midterm, 12,151 were cast in 2014. Four Democratic-leaning counties with the largest number of provisional ballots -- Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett – “had not yet reported their numbers to the secretary as of November 11,” the suit said.

The lawsuit also asked that provisional ballots cast by a voter registered in another county be counted as if the voter had shown up at the wrong precinct. The lawsuit says that of the 1,556 provisional ballots Fulton County reported having rejected by Nov. 9, nearly 1,000 were disqualified because they were cast by voters whose registration records showed them registered in another county.

Edgardo Cortes, who currently works as an election security adviser at New York University, said these uncounted provisional ballots could sway the election and, despite Kemp’s claims, his unofficial vote total is so close to 50 percent, a runoff is possible.

Kemp was up 50.2 percent to Abrams' 48.7 percent early Tuesday. More than 3.9 million votes were cast in the election, and Abrams would need to acquire more than 20,000 additional votes to force a runoff.

“This ruling is a victory for the voters of Georgia because we are all stronger when every eligible voter is allowed to participate in our elections,” Sara Henderson, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, which filed the lawsuit, told AJC.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fed...sional-ballots

Oh geez, another nail biter. This is exhausting just watching it, I can't imagine the stress it causes on the candidates.

That is what I have been saying...

TRACK OUR VOTES

Our Voter Registration Card has our Voter ID on it.

Let us track our vote with that!


Nationwide Federal Mandate for Uniform Voting Procedures

Create a new database system that links with the voting machine:

1) Enter Name, Address, Party, Registration Date, County, State...signature in the file on the computer.

2) Certify with legal documents you are a legal US citizen eligible to vote and who certified this.

3) The computer issues a Voter ID number. You will be mailed your card with your Voter ID number, sign your card.

4) Your file has a green dot until you vote...then it turns red in the database and the vote is locked in when you vote. No more voting under that Voter ID will be allowed when your vote is locked and red dotted. Only an administrator can unlock a red dot file. You cannot mail in a ballot AND show up in person and vote again. Mail in ballots will be red dotted and locked after scanned.

Voting in Person:

1) Check in with Photo ID, match signatures in the database.

2) Confirmation who you are, your ballot is then stamped with your VoterID and Date/Time Stamped in a machine, like a time clock.

3) Fill out your ballot and sign it!

4) Scan it in the machine.

5) A copy is uploaded and "attached" in the database to your file with your Voter ID number. It is in your records.

6) Your vote is counted after scanning.

7) You get a confirmation screen your vote is complete...thank you for voting.

Your Voter ID is now red dotted and locked inin the database. No more votes accepted under that Voter ID.

9) Would you like a printed copy, text or email copy? Select your option.

Mail-in ballots:

1) Your ballot has your name and Voter ID number.

2) Fill it out, sign it and mail it.

3) They need to confirm your signature matches your signature in their database when received. When it is scanned in the system...your Voter ID is red dotted and locked in. You cannot vote again in person!

4) Go on-line, enter your County and Voter ID and ensure your vote was received and cast correctly. Any errors, click the email button to notify registrar's office.



You are now eligible to go to the website on-line for your County...enter your Voter ID number and confirm your vote was cast correctly! "Read only", not able to change it on-line. Option to send an email if you find errors.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics needs to notify the Voter Registrar's Office when people are deceased. Get them off the voter rolls.

No more Motor Voter Registration! Too much fraud.

Put a voter registration booth in the DMV to register people to vote.

No illegal aliens and non-citizens enrolled in our voting system!



GET THIS SYSTEM UP AND RUNNING WELL BEFORE THE 2020 ELECTION!

WE NEED A CROSS CHECK SYSTEM AND LOCK DOWN OF OUR BALLOT WITH OUR VOTER ID PRINTED OR STAMPED ON EACH AND EVERY BALLOT.


NO MORE PUTTING "BLANK" BALLOTS IN THE SCANNER WITH NO VOTER ID ON IT!!!