District To Have a Georgia Primary Redo After Lawsuit Victory

In May, results of the state Republican legislative primary held in Georgia 28th district were challenged by Rep. Dan Gasaway. He lost to Chris Erwin, a businessman, by 67 votes. This led to Gasaway filing a lawsuit based on the fact that his name wasn’t on some ballot. He attested that local election administrators are to be blamed for his defeat. Things soon dissolved into total confusion. The election was in May but even today there is no clear idea who the Republican State House candidate for the 28^th district will be. The whole series of incidents are a brutal reminded that Georgia state elections are mismanaged.

There was a hearing on this case Tuesday in Northeast Georgia. With great power to decide the path forward in this unusual case, the presiding Judge David Sweat made a point to stress the fact that a new election was needed. A Georgia Primary redo is now being planned!

The imbroglio has been unfortunately slow in making its way to the state court and was only initiated after, in a stunning twist of events, the wife of losing incumbent Gasaway discovered a major mistake by election administrators. Thus Gasaway and his wife’s efforts have yielded fruit. The primary election for state legislature between the two Republicans will be redone on 4 December. The opponents, Dan Gasaway and businessman Chris Erwin will have to put in all they have in a head-to-head battle as no other candidates will be contesting for this seat.

The mismanaged Georgia election system appeared to have raised its head again. For more information on this controversy, checkout this story from CNN:

“Election security observers and activists in Georgia say the situation in Gasaway’s district adds to growing concerns about the integrity of the state’s voting system and spotlights the way discrepancies in voter data can potentially affect election results. The secretary of state’s office says Georgia’s voting system remains secure ahead of November’s midterm elections.”

Here is an accompanying four minute video report by CNN’s Drew Griffin on the subject:

Be sure to check out DC’s American Democracy page for all over coverage of US elections.