Group Suing Kemp, Gwinnett Elections Board Over Ballot Rejections

ATLANTA, GA – The Coalition for Good Governance is suing the Secretary of State Brian Kemp, each member of the state’s Board of Elections and each member of Gwinnett County’s board of elections over how mail-in absentee ballots are handled.

The Coalition, made up of five Georgia voters, filed the lawsuit Tuesday to halt the excessive rejection of mail ballots because of voters’ innocent errors and discrepancies on mail ballot paperwork. Some counties have unacceptably high rejections of mail ballot applications and mail ballots because of small technicalities such as a voter signing the ballot envelope on the wrong line or writing the current date rather than the date of birth.

“Thousands of voters have been rejected by these unfair and unconstitutional practices in recent elections. We are asking the Court to intervene to stop these unjust actions in advance of the November election. Certain Georgia laws and policies prevent the counting of valid ballots cast by eligible voters merely trying to exercise their right to vote,” said Marilyn Marks, executive director of Coalition for Good Governance. Marks noted that Coalition for Good Governance is underwriting and supporting the lawsuit in support of its mission of advocacy for fair and transparent elections.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!)

The lawsuit seeks the following key remedies:

--Voters must be notified in one business day by first class mail, and telephone and email if available, that their ballot application or voted ballot has been rejected, with instructions given on how to provide the needed information.

--No voter signatures can be rejected without agreement of a bi-partisan signature review team.

--Ballots and applications already rejected must be reviewed immediately and voters be provided the above-mentioned protections.

--Voters whose ballots have been rejected must be given until the Friday after Election Day to resolve any issues any mail ballot eligibility questions.

Atlanta lawyer Bruce P. Brown, who represents the plaintiffs, said: “The plaintiffs brought this suit because the Georgia election officials, under the direction of Secretary Kemp, are rejecting perfectly valid ballots from eligible voters for arbitrary and capricious reasons and not giving the voters a reasonable opportunity to fix the perceived mistakes. These election officials should want and encourage people to vote, and help them cast a vote, but instead some are using everything at their disposal to deny these people – many of them elderly and disabled – this fundamental political right. We hope that Secretary Kemp, rather than fight this lawsuit, simply does the right thing and orders election officials statewide to give mail ballot voters a reasonable opportunity to cure any perceived mistakes in their paperwork.”

Rhonda Martin, an Atlanta resident and plaintiff said, “The inability of some citizens to go to the polls or their attempts to protect their votes by using paper ballots should not put them at increased risk of losing their right to vote due to honest, easily corrected errors.”

“The right to vote is sacred, and until all eligible citizens are allowed to cast their vote as easily as some may cast them, our results are flawed. The disparate treatment of voters in Georgia must cease now,” Jeanne Dufort, a plaintiff and voter in Morgan County added.

In addition to Martin and Dufort, the other plaintiffs are Smythe DuVal, Libertarian Candidate for Secretary of State; Jasmine Clark, Gwinnett County voter and candidate for Georgia House District 108; and Gwinnett County voter Dana Bowers.

Coalition for Good Governance is a non-profit non-partisan organization advocating for secure, transparent and fair elections. The organization is also suing Secretary Kemp, the State Board of Elections, and Fulton County election officials in U.S. District Court in Atlanta (Curling v Kemp 17 cv 2989) to stop the use of Georgia’s unverifiable electronic voting system.

RELATED: GA Black Caucus To Hold News Conference On Gwinnett Voting Issues

Photo of ballot courtesy Coalition for Good Governance
Photo of Brian Kemp courtesy Kemp Campaign