Trump's reelection campaign and the Republican Party of Georgia petitioned the Chatham County Superior Court on Wednesday, alleging that a registered election observer thought the county might have illegally counted 53 absentee ballots that arrived after polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. But lawyers for the county and the Democratic Party of Georgia, an intervenor in the case, said the county had done everything right and there was not a shred of evidence to suggest otherwise.
Judge James F. Bass denied Trump's petition and tossed the case around 11:20 a.m. Thursday, after an hourlong remote hearing. He gave no reasoning for his judgment, simply saying he had heard the evidence and listened to counsel.
Trump's petition in Chatham County was his first legal challenge in Georgia over Tuesday's election, and one of several lawsuits nationwide that are expected to grow in number over the coming days.
His campaign alleged an observer had seen a batch of 53 possibly late-arriving ballots being added to the pile to be counted by the Chatham County Board of Elections, although the observer did not know when the ballots were received and did not see what happened to them during a period he had left the room.
Thursday's hearing detailed the process that Chatham County election workers went through to count ballots in line with Georgia law, which rejects any ballots received after polls close on Election Day, even those timestamped earlier.
Arguing for the Democratic Party of Georgia, Jeffrey R. Harris of Harris Lowry Manton LLP said the Republican Party and Trump had nothing to show that ballot-counting in Chatham County was improper or illegal, other than "utterly unpersuasive testimony" from the observer.
"There's literally no compelling evidence before the court that there were ballots being cast after 7 p.m. that were being counted," Harris said in the hearing. "Their petition is defective on its face because it says, 'We're worried that [late] ballots may be being counted,' but that's not sufficient. The burden is on them to prove that this was happening and they've failed to meet that burden by their own testimony."
Benjamin M. Perkins of Oliver Maner LLP, representing Chatham County, said its ballot-counters had fully complied with Georgia law as they were trained to do and that a court order for them to comply was unnecessary.
"Such an opinion would be entirely advisory because there's no evidence of noncompliance," Perkins said.
Counsel for Trump and the Republican Party said it was fishy there were 492 late ballots in Chatham County in the 2018 election and only 42 this year, and that the 53 allegedly late ballots in question should have been transferred to the superior court clerk instead of kept in a cardboard box in the county's elections office.
They said their petition simply sought to investigate compliance to reassure all Americans that the election was properly conducted, amid confusion and a lack of clarity regarding late ballots in Georgia.
The parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Trump's campaign is represented by Bryan P. Tyson, Jonathan Crumly Sr., Bryan F. Jacoutot and Loree A. Paradise of Taylor English Duma LLP, Stefan C. Passantino of Elections LLC and Dwight T. Feemster of Duffy & Feemster LLC.
The Georgia Republican Party is represented by Vincent R. Russo, Josh Belinfante and Carey A. Miller of Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield LLC and Dwight T. Feemster of Duffy & Feemster LLC.
Chatham County is represented by Benjamin M. Perkins of Oliver Maner LLP.
The Democratic Party of Georgia is represented by Jeffrey R. Harris of Harris Lowry Manton LLP, Manoj S. Varghese, Christopher T. Giovinazzo, Michael B. Terry and Benjamin E. Fox of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP and Marc E. Elias and Amanda R. Callais of Perkins Coie LLP.
The case is In re: Enforcement of Election Laws and Securing Ballots Cast or Received After 7 p.m. on November 3, 2020, case number SPCV20-00982, in the Superior Court of Chatham County, Georgia.
--Editing by Marygrace Murphy.
Update: This story has been updated with additional information.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
