State Rep. Dan Gasaway, R-Homer, and Republican candidate Chris Erwin.

Former state Rep. Dan Gasaway will have to foot the bulk of the bill for twice overturning a state Republican primary over improper voting, a Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

Senior Judge David Sweat rejected a request by Gasaway attorney Jake Evans to reimburse Gasaway for more than $100,000 in fees and costs associated with his second successful challenge of his 2018 Republican primary race against opponent Chris Erwin. Gasaway did not seek fees associated with his first successful challenge of the contest in a trial last year.

Erwin ultimately won the third election, which took place April 9, with more than 75 percent of the vote.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in February that his office has opened an investigation into voting irregularities in Habersham County that invalidated the first two contests.

But attorneys for Gasaway and Erwin said Sweat did order the respondents—which include Erwin and three county election boards in the contested legislative district—to reimburse Gasaway for costs other than legal fees he spent litigating the second case.

Gasaway originally sought more than $90,000 in fees and costs, an amount that increased to over $100,000 after Erwin appealed Sweat's decision to throw out the second election and order a third one. The appeal was dismissed after Erwin won.

Bryan Tyson, a partner with Atlanta's Taylor English Duma who defended Erwin, said Sweat decided Erwin based his defense on arguments that could be considered reasonable, rather than frivolous, although a Habersham County court overturned the first two elections over Erwin's objections.

Tyson said the judge held at the end of a hearing on Monday that Erwin's defense “was based on a reasonable interpretation of the statute that the court could have agreed with.” That finding, he said, “forecloses fees.”

“I hope it's done,” Tyson said of the multiple election challenges. “We're glad the chapter is finally closing on this primary over a year later.”

Evans, a senior litigation associate at the Atlanta offices of Holland & Knight and chairman of the state's Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission, said, “We're thankful the judge properly awarded costs to Mr. Gasaway, in part making him whole,”

He said. “It's been a great journey getting to today, and I think this case made real positive change.”

Sweat twice threw out the election results stemming from last year's Republican primary between Gasaway, a three-term state representative, and Irwin to represent House District 28, which includes parts of Banks, Stephens, and Habersham counties in northern Georgia.  The first election was invalidated at trial after determining there were sufficient voter irregularities—including disenfranchised voters who were given the wrong ballots—to put the results in doubt. Gasaway lost the first race to Erwin by 67 votes.

In February, Sweat threw out the results of the Dec. 4 do-over race after finding four votes were cast illegally and stripped Erwin of his new legislative office. That's when Evans petitioned the court for legal fees, arguing that before the case went to trial, he had asked the county election boards to invalidate the second race based on evidence that at least four illegal votes were cast—enough to throw the second race to Gasaway.

Tyson branded the motion for legal fees as “sour grapes.”