US judge denies Republican bid to block some Georgia absentee ballots
6/11/2024 6:07
A U.S. judge on Tuesday denied a bid
by Republicans to block seven counties in the battleground state
of Georgia from accepting some absentee ballots, and chided the
party's lawyers for what he termed discrimination against
political opponents.
The Republican National Committee on Sunday sued the seven
counties in Savannah federal court for allowing voters to return
absentee ballots over the weekend and on Monday. They said the
early voting period was supposed to close on Friday, and asked
the court to block the counties from accepting the ballots.
In a telephone hearing on Tuesday, which is Election Day
nationwide, U.S. District Judge Stan Baker said the counties
Republicans were targeting had all been Democratic-leaning in
previous elections.
"I would only be invalidating votes in the select counties
that plaintiffs have cherry picked based on nothing more than
the past political preferences of the citizens in those
counties," said Baker, an appointee of Republican former
President Donald Trump, who is again his party's presidential
candidate.
Baker said the Republicans were asking him to "tip the
scales of this election by discriminating against citizens that
are less likely to vote for their candidate."
Georgia is one of seven battleground states likely to decide
the outcome of the election between Trump and his Democratic
opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. President Joe Biden won
the southern state in 2020, the first Democratic victory there
since 1992.
"Georgia is making its voice heard," Harris campaign
spokesperson Charles Lutvak said in a post on X.
A spokesperson for the RNC did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
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