Georgia’s highest court has ruled that over 3,000 absentee ballots might not be counted if they are received after election day, despite an error by local election officials.
All the ballots are in Cobb County, a northern suburb of Atlanta that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and could be a deciding factor in a state where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are tied in the opinion polls.
Biden won the state with 49.5% of the vote in 2020, compared to 49.2% for Trump.
Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Atlanta. The Republican National Committee has blocked more than 3,000 absentee ballots in Cobb County, Georgia if they are received after Tuesday, 7pm. Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Atlanta. The Republican National Committee has blocked more than 3,000 absentee ballots in Cobb County, Georgia if they are received after Tuesday, 7pm. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Trump famously called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election asking him to “find 11,780 votes” that Trump needed to beat Biden in Georgia.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken a case to protect the rights of Cobb County voters in the 2024 presidential election, after officials inadvertently delayed mailing out some absentee ballots.
Newsweek sought email comment on Tuesday from the RNC, the ACLU and the Cobb County Election Board.
Among the plaintiffs taking the case with the ACLU are Naomi Ayota, a 19-year-old who attends college in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrison “Grant” Simmel, a 20-year-old who attends college in Boulder, Colorado and Gabriel Dickson, a resident of Cobb County, who requested an absentee ballot because he is legally blind.
“It is incredibly burdensome for him to vote in person,” the ACLU lawsuit states.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that all Cobb County absentee ballots must be received by the time polls close at 7pm on Tuesday.
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Any ballots that are received after that time will be held until the case can be fully litigated.
The Georgia Supreme Court overruled a Cobb County judge who had extended the deadline until 5pm on Friday, to compensate for the delay in sending out the ballots.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Georgia Republican Party had appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing that the Cobb County judge’s deviation from election rules is “baseless.”
“The Plaintiffs claim a burden on their right to vote, but the Georgia Constitution does not guarantee a right to vote by mail. Voters still have many options to vote, including by voting in person or delivering their absentee ballots in person,” their appeal stated.
In its initial lawsuit, the ACLU complained that “plaintiffs and more than 3,000 other lawfully registered Cobb County voters are on the brink of disenfranchisement in the November 5 election because the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration was unable to issue their absentee ballots on time. Defendants admit the legal violation.”
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“It is unlikely that all affected voters will even receive their ballots by November 2, particularly because hundreds of the affected voters are temporarily living out of state or overseas,” it states.
Bulldogs score three touchdowns in final stanza, will move up in CFP rankings
Georgia dominated the fourth quarter in a top-10 matchup with Texas en route to a 35-10 win and a huge addition to its College Football Playoff resume. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
ATHENS — Georgia football shined bright under the lights, dominating Texas in the fourth quarter en route to the 35-10 win.
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The Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1 SEC) figure to move up from No. 5 in the College Football Playoff ranking on Tuesday night.
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Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
A Georgia player has won an estimated $980 million Mega Millions jackpot on Friday, the eighth-largest prize in the game’s history, according to the lottery.
The winning ticket matched all six winning numbers: 1, 8, 11, 12, 57, and Mega Ball 7.
The win ends a 40-drawing streak without a jackpot winner, making it the first time since June that the top prize has been claimed. In that previous drawing, a Virginia ticket won $348 million.
The winner can choose to receive the $980 million in annual payments over 30 years, or a lump-sum cash payout of $452.2 million, all before taxes.
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The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Newnan, a city roughly 40 miles southwest of Atlanta, according to the lottery. The store will receive a $50,000 retailer bonus from the Georgia Lottery for selling the jackpot ticket, the lottery said.
“We are thrilled to congratulate the largest winner in our state’s history,” Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said in the news release.
This is the largest Mega Millions prize since the game’s overhaul in April, which raised ticket prices to $5 and increased the starting jackpot to $50 million. Under the new system, the odds of winning the jackpot are now 1 in 290 million, according to the lottery.
In the latest drawing, a ticket sold in Michigan won $3 million by matching all five white balls and the 3X multiplier, the lottery said. Another 22 tickets matched four white balls and the Mega Ball, winning $20,000.
The Mega Millions’ record jackpot stands at $1.6 billion, claimed by a single ticket sold in Florida in August 2023.
The leader of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia says that he will step in to replace Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case against President Trump and others.
PAC Executive Director Peter J. Skandalakis made the announcement on Friday, which was the deadline set by the judge overseeing the case to find Willis’s replacement.
In his announcement, Skandalakis said that he will take up the case after his organization was unable to find another prosecutor by Friday.
“Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment,” he wrote. “Out of respect for their privacy and professional discretion, I will not identify those prosecutors or disclose.”
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Skandalakis said that he chose to lead the prosecution due to his familiarity with some of the immense case file, which he described as more than 100 banker boxes of documents and an 8-terabyte hard drive. Though he attempted to examine the evidence and interviews in the time the judge allotted him, he said he was not able to complete a full review.
“With Judge McAfee’s deadline now upon us and my review still ongoing, I have determined that the best course of action is to appoint myself to the case,” Skandalakis wrote. “This will allow me to complete a comprehensive review and make an informed decision regarding how best to proceed.”
With Skandalakis as the prosecutor, he now has the choice whether to continue the path Willis had taken, pursue only some charges, or dismiss the case entirely.
While it is unlikely that any action against Mr. Trump could proceed while he is the sitting president, there are 14 other people still facing charges in the case, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
In a statement to CBS News, attorney Steve Sadow, who is representing Mr. Trump in the case, said that the “politically charged prosecution has come to an end.”
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“We remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump,” Sadow said.
How Georgia’s Trump election case began
Willis announced the indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using Georgia’s anti-racketeering law to accuse them of participating in a scheme to overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in Georgia.
The alleged plot included Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, urging him to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome. Four defendants: attorneys Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, and bail bondsman Scott Hall have pleaded guilty.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta.
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Alex Slitz / Getty Images
Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the case after revelations that she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the investigation.
Defense attorneys alleged that Willis and Wade benefited from their relationship, saying Wade used his earnings from the case to pay for trips they took together. Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship but said it began after he was hired.
In March 2024, Judge McAfee rebuked Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment” but said there was no conflict of interest that would disqualify her. He ruled she could stay on the case if Wade resigned, which he did hours later.
The defense attorneys appealed, and in December, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The state’s high court declined to hear Willis’ appeal in September, placing the case in the hands of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council.
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While Trump announced pardons for people accused of backing his efforts to overturn the results of that election earlier this week — including those charged in Georgia — that doesn’t affect state charges.
