Trump Campaign Files Election Contest in Georgia

Provisional ballots are seen in a postal service tray at the Gwinnett County Board of Voter Registrations and Elections offices in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Nov. 7, 2020. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign filed an election contest in Georgia on Dec. 4, alleging violations of the Constitution and state laws.

The contest petition (pdf), filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County, states that several Georgia election officials committed “repeated violations of the election code” which “constituted an abandonment of the legislature’s duly enacted framework for conducting the election and for choosing presidential electors, contrary to Georgia law and the United States Constitution.”

The campaign is asking the court to declare that ineligible voters cast votes during the Nov. 3 election, void the results of the election, and order a new presidential election in the state, among other remedies.

“What was filed today clearly documents that there are literally tens of thousands of illegal votes that were cast, counted, and included in the tabulations the Secretary of State is preparing to certify,” Ray Smith, the lead counsel for the Trump campaign, said. “The massive irregularities, mistakes, and potential fraud violate the Georgia Election Code, making it impossible to know with certainty the actual outcome of the presidential race in Georgia.”

The complaint is accompanied by sworn affidavits from Georgia residents who allege that election officials failed to verify signatures on ballots and prevented Republican poll monitors from adequately observing the voted count. Some of the affidavits describe the appearance of oddly “pristine” absentee and mail-in ballots which missed the creases created when the ballots are folded to fit into a privacy envelope.

The petitioners also cite data experts who identified several groups of people who voted illegally, including “2,560 felons; 66,247 underage voters, 2,423 votes from people not registered; 1,043 individuals registered at post office boxes; 4,926 individuals who voted in Georgia after registering in another state; 395 individuals who voted in two states; 15,700 votes from people who moved out of state before the election; 40,279 votes of people who moved without re-registering in their new county; and another 30,000 to 40,000 absentee ballots lacking proper signature matching and verification.”

“The Secretary of State has orchestrated the worst excuse for an election in Georgia history,” Smith said. “We are asking the Court to vacate the certification of the presidential election and to order a new statewide election for president.”

In the week leading up to the filing of the contest, Georgia conducted a machine recount of the presidential election which is expected to show former Vice President Joe Biden in the lead.