Attorneys representing Georgia voters and an election transparency organization battling state election officials for a return to paper ballots have asked a federal judge to award them an estimated $5.6 million in legal fees and expenses. 

Judge Amy Totenberg, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Judge Amy Totenberg, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

The fee requests cited orders by Judge Amy Totenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia—one last month and one last year—as proof the fees are warranted and that the litigation has already resulted in "fail-safe alternatives" to protect the security and validity of Georgia elections, beginning Jan. 1. The motions also cited Totenberg's refusal to dismiss the case last May.

The fees stem from a 2017 suit against the secretary of state and the state elections board claiming that Georgia voters have a constitutional right "to cast a vote that is properly counted." The state's use of paperless electronic voting machines and its reliance on a computerized voting system powered by obsolete software with a demonstrated vulnerability to hackers violates that right, the suit contends.