Prolific election results denier Stacey Abrams was dealt a blow in court on Friday when her organization lost a lawsuit challenging Georgia voting laws. The suit was originally filed after her loss in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones’ judgment concludes the ambitious case against Georgia’s voter registration and absentee ballot practices after a trial in which voters testified about problems at the polls but few of them were unable to cast a ballot.
“Although Georgia’s election system is not perfect, the challenged practices violate neither the Constitution nor the VRA (Voting Rights Act),” Jones wrote in a 288-page order.
The decision followed what is believed to be the longest voting rights trial in the history of the Northern District of Georgia, lasting 21 days with testimony from over 50 witnesses, wrote Jones, a nominee of President Barack Obama.
Jones ruled against Fair Fight on claims over Georgia’s “exact match” voter registration policy, absentee ballot cancellation practices and registration inaccuracies.
Republican election officials and lawyers celebrated the ruling.
Recently, Abrams has been trying to rehabilitate her election results-denying reputation, but even The Washington Post acknowledges that Abrams has a long history denying election results:
Abrams, in her non-concession speech, did acknowledge Kemp “will be certified as the victor of the 2018 gubernatorial election.” But a review of numerous interviews shows that Abrams subsequently used language denying the outcome of the election that she now appears to be trying to play down.
For instance, Abrams at various times has said the election was “stolen” and even, in a New York Times interview, that “I won.” She suggested that election laws were “rigged” and that it was “not a free or fair election.” She also claimed that voter suppression was to blame for her loss, even though she admitted she could not “empirically” prove that. While she did acknowledged Kemp was the governor, she refused to say he was the “legitimate” governor.
Republicans want to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, while Democrats want to manipulate election laws to only achieve the results they want.