Perdue suit pushing election fraud claims dismissed by judge
ATLANTA • A Georgia judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue that alleged fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in the state’s most populous county during the 2020 general election.
Perdue filed the lawsuit, along with an individual voter, in December a few days after he announced that he would be challenging Gov. Brian Kemp in the Republican primary. Among other things, the suit sought access to examine absentee ballots, saying that would allow the petitioners to prove that there had been fraud in Fulton County.
Investigators with the secretary of state’s office found no evidence to support the fraud claims, but that hasn’t stopped former President Donald Trump, Perdue and others from continuing to spread them. The suit was similar to another filed by a group of voters that was dismissed in October because a judge found the group hadn’t alleged a “particularized injury” and therefore didn’t have standing to sue. That ruling has been appealed.
Perdue and voter Elizabeth Grace Lennon argued that their state constitutional rights to equal protection and due process have been violated. Perdue claims his particularized injury was that he was a candidate for reelection in November but failed to achieve a majority, forcing him into a runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff that Perdue lost. Lennon says she sought to cast an in-person early vote in October 2020 but was told someone had already submitted a mail ballot in her name.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote that it “is not really about Perdue’s loss or Lennon’s personal voting experience.” Its core claims, he notes, are that several batches of absentee ballots were scanned multiple times and thousands of unlawful counterfeit absentee ballots were counted and certified in Fulton County.
FILE – Republican candidate for Georgia Governor former U.S. Senator David Perdue speaks Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Rutledge, Ga. A Georgia judge has dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday, May 11, filed by former U.S. Sen. Perdue that alleged fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in the state’s most populous county during the 2020 general election. Perdue filed the lawsuit in December a few days after he announced that he would be challenging Gov. Brian Kemp in the Republican primary. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)