Jake Evans, Holland & Knight, Atlanta (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Allegations of election irregularities in Georgia House District 28 that prompted a judge to void the results and call a new election for Dec. 4 have resurfaced, prompting a second lawsuit by state Rep. Dan Gasaway.

Gasaway, R-Homer, who lost the Dec. 4 race to opponent Chris Erwin by two votes, filed a petition in Banks County Superior Court Wednesday contesting the results after losing the race for the second time. The petition asks a judge to invalidate the Dec. 4 results and order another new election. It was filed 24 hours after a recount resulted in the same two-vote margin in Erwin's favor.

“There were illegal votes cast that exceed the margin of victory in the election,” said Gasaway's attorney, Jake Evans of the Atlanta offices of Holland & Knight. “Our position at this point is that this is an issue that is bigger than Dan Gasaway. It's bigger than Chris Erwin. It's an issue that reflects on the integrity of the electoral system. It's necessary to instill public confidence that the elections are properly done.”

Erwin's attorney, Bryan Tyson of Atlanta's Strickland Brockington Lewis, said the campaign is confident it can establish that Gasaway's complaint identified as nonresidents of the district did vote legally in the Dec. 4 election and are all residents of Banks County. Banks County is entirely within District 28, he said.

“Our view is that … it's turning into sour grapes at this point,” Tyson said. Gasaway “lost the election twice. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars at this point. Rep. elect Erwin is ready to begin serving the district when the [legislative] session convenes in a couple of weeks.”

The petition names as defendants Erwin and the Habersham, Banks and Stephens county election boards. The counties are in the North Georgia mountains.

The suit claims that election personnel accepted improper votes while wrongly rejecting other votes in at least 17 instances—enough under state law to place the results in doubt and pave the way for a new election. Three voters who, according to Gasaway, improperly cast ballots were Banks County Sheriff Billy Carlton Speed, his wife and son. The suit contends that Speed and his family live in House District 32, not District 28.

Speed was in a meeting Thursday and couldn't be reached for comment. But the sheriff posted an official statement on his Facebook page Thursday, calling Gasaway's lawsuit “frivolous.” He also took issue with the suggestion that he and his family live in another county and voted illegally in Banks.

“The land and house that we reside in and own is located solely in Banks County,” he said.  ”My residential status is supported by official tax documents, Banks County GIS mapping department records, and all business conducted through my personal accounts. Unfortunately, Google Maps doesn't put my residence in Banks County.”

“Google Maps will be the first to state that it is an unofficial source of information. As most of us know, we don't believe everything that we read on the Internet.”

“As in every election, I walked into the Banks County Elections Office this year and presented my driver's license to the registrar,” the sheriff continued.  ”I watched as my license was checked against the voter eligibility roll for verification and even signed the prepared documentation. The registrar handed me an electronic ballot and I conducted my duty as a voting citizen.”

Gasaway is a three-term incumbent who lost to Erwin by 67 votes in the May primaries. But Gasaway soon learned that at least 71 people in his district were given the wrong ballot and that his race did not appear on them. Habersham County election officials eventually notified a total of 388 registered voters they were erroneously placed in the wrong district.

After a bench trial last September, a senior judge in Banks County invalidated the May 22 Republican primary and ordered a Dec. 4 do-over, saying there was sufficient evidence to place the results in doubt.

There was no Democratic candidate, so the winner of the Republican primary will become the district's state representative.