ATLANTA (AP) – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit prompted by the coronavirus outbreak that sought to further delay Georgia’s primary election and to force other changes to the voting process.
“The Framers of the Constitution did not envision a primary role for the courts in managing elections, but instead reserved election management to the legislatures,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten wrote in an opinion issued Thursday.
The lawsuit filed last month by an election integrity advocacy group and individual Georgia voters asked a judge to postpone the primary election from June 9 to June 30, implement measures to protect voters and election workers from the coronavirus and make voting by mail more practical.
Citing the virus outbreak, Georgia officials first bumped the March presidential primaries to May 19 – when voters were set to choose party nominees for a U.S. Senate seat, U.S. House members, as well as state and local races. In April, as infections and deaths continued to climb, election day was pushed back again to June 9. Election officials have urged voters to vote by mail.
In a new filing Monday, the plaintiffs raised concerns about potential voter confusion because mail ballots sent to voters still featured the May election date and there were no instructions in the ballot package explaining that the election date had been moved.