Georgia Judge Denies GOP Lawsuit on Drop Boxes, Says State Has Immunity

A judge from Fulton County which includes Atlanta has dismissed a lawsuit by the Republican Party seeking to limit the use of voter drop boxes for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoff races saying the state has immunity from being sued, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday.

Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams ruled she doesn’t have jurisdiction because of sovereign immunity that protects governments from lawsuits, the Journal-Constitution said.

Republicans had argued that drop boxes should be limited to the same hours as county election offices, which typically close at 5 p.m. on weekdays.

But an attorney for the Georgia secretary of state’s office said the state election board approved the boxes to be used at all hours.

Famed attorney Lin Wood sued the Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in November claiming that he unlawfully changed election law in March to settle a lawsuit by Georgia Democrats, something he said the state constitution expressly grants to the legislature.

Incumbent Republicans Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are facing Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Jan. 5 runoffs after none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote.

While Perdue received only a few thousand votes shy of the 50% threshold, Warnock led Loeffler 33% to 26%. However, Loeffler and fellow Republican Doug Collins, plus four other Republicans in a race with 20 candidates, received a combined 49.3% of the vote compared to about 48.4% for Warnock and the next seven Democrats.