Voter Fraud Goes to Georgia Supreme Court
May 9, 2006, 05:18 PM

ATLANTA (AP) -- Attorneys wrangled over election law Monday in a Georgia Supreme Court case that could shape how candidates challenge election results for years to come.

An attorney for a defeated Dawson City Council candidate urged the court to allow candidates to challenge potential illegal voters after the election.

But doing so, warned the attorney representing the election's victor, could lead to a staggering rise in election challenges throughout the state.

The case stems from Carolyn Allen's one-vote defeat last November in a heated race for a city council seat in Dawson, a town of about 5,000 that sits three hours southwest of Atlanta.

Allen and her supporters claimed that hours after the election they discovered at least one ballot was cast by an illegal voter, putting Charlie Sanders' victory in question.

A trial court threw out the challenge, ruling that the illegal voters should have been challenged before the election, using voter rolls that are open to the public.

Kim Minix, Allen's attorney, said poring over voter rolls before elections is impractical, particularly in statewide contests with millions of potential voters.

Reversing the trial court's judgment, though, could encourage candidates to ignore voters they know shouldn't cast a ballot, only to challenge them if the vote doesn't go their way, said Maurice King Jr., Sanders' attorney.

And allowing challenges after the results are returned will "almost all the time" lead to multiple elections in narrowly contested races.

"You hope for the best and when the best doesn't happen, you file an election challenge," he said, characterizing a possible election strategy.

Sanders and Allen have a history of tight races.

After a council member's death last year, Allen beat Sanders by a single vote in a special election to determine who would serve the remaining months in the term.

However, when the two faced off again in the general election in November, Allen lost to Sanders by the same narrow margin.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


IMHO, EVERY losing candidate regardless of party should dispute their election results! 25% of illegal aliens in a Telemundo poll indicated that they would vote in November, even though they don't have that priviledge. I would guess they would be the first wave found and deported.