Judge dismisses Georgia lawsuit alleging fraud in 2020 election

[October 14, 2021]    By Julia Harte

(Reuters) - A state judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by Georgia voters and self-described election integrity activists who alleged that officials in Atlanta's Fulton County had counted fraudulent ballots in the November 2020 election.

Employees of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections process ballots in Atlanta, Georgia U.S., November 4, 2020. REUTERS/Brandon Bell

Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero in McDonough just southeast of Atlanta, who oversaw the case, ruled that the petitioners had failed to allege injuries that affected them in a "personal and individual way," leaving them with no standing to bring the lawsuit.

The order is the latest defeat for private groups in the United States which have claimed without evidence that widespread voting fraud in populous cities helped Democrat Joe Biden unfairly defeat then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.

In September, a review of Arizona's election results by Trump's Republican Party allies reaffirmed Biden's win in that state. Multiple courts and officials have rejected the Trump campaign's claims that the election was stolen from him.

Biden also won Georgia, scoring the first victory for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992.

Amero's Wednesday order came one day after attorneys for Georgia's secretary of state responded to the lawsuit in court. The attorneys said the secretary's office had thoroughly investigated the allegations of fraudulent ballot counting in Fulton County and found them unsubstantiated by the evidence presented so far.

Garland Favorito, the activist who led the lawsuit against Fulton County, said in a statement on Wednesday that it was "not adequate for any organization to secretly tell us there are no counterfeit ballots and refuse to let the public inspect them."

Favorito also said his group had prepared to show "concrete evidence" of their claims at a Nov. 15 hearing that had been scheduled in the case before Amero dismissed the lawsuit.

Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said in his own statement on Wednesday that the dismissal was a "win for democracy." Pitts, a Democrat, noted that Fulton County's votes had already been counted three times, including a hand recount.

(Reporting by Julia Harte; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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