Unlawful Absentee Ballot Rejections Barred Across Georgia After Emergency Hearing

Life moves fast, and election litigation faster. Halsey Knapp and Adam Sparks demonstrated this truism recently in representing Stacey Abrams for Governor and the Democratic Party of Georgia in seeking an emergency federal court order preventing the unlawful rejection of absentee ballots due to immaterial defects across all Georgia counties in the 2018 General Election. After filing a complaint for relief on Sunday, November 11, and an emergency brief and supporting declarations the following day, Krevolin & Horst attorneys appeared in court alongside co-counsel on Tuesday, November 13 to argue for emergency injunctive relief concerning absentee ballots and provisional ballots.

The following evening, the Court issued an order (link below) agreeing with our clients that the rejection of absentee ballots solely because the voter entered an incorrect date of birth or omitted their date of birth violated constitutional guarantees of equal protection and procedural due process. The Court ordered the Georgia Secretary of State not to certify election returns until she had confirmed that all counties had examined these ballots and counted their votes. The case, Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc. v. Crittenden, No. 1:18-cv-5181-SCJ, also seeks permanent injunctive relief and is currently pending before the Northern District of Georgia.