Davis v. Dunn

In this election contest case, Joan P. Davis appeals from the Superior Court of Cobb County’s award of attorney’s fees to Sharon Dunn, the Director of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration.1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm. The record reveals that, on November 13, 2008, Davis filed a Petition to Contest the November 4, 2008 election of Cobb County Superior Court Judge C. LaTain Kell, contending only that “the grounds for contest are error in counting the vote and declaring the result of the elections, where such error would change the result.” See OCGA § 21-2-522 4 “A result of a primary or election may be contested . . . for any error in counting the votes or declaring the result of the primary or election, if such error would change the result”.

Judge Kell won the election by 24,462 votes, and Davis did not specify in her petition, as required by OCGA § 21-2-524 a 8, any factual basis for her belief that a counting error occurred that would have changed the election results. See Ellis v. Johnson , 263 Ga. 514, 516 1 435 SE2d 923 1993 a petitioner in an election contest is “required by § 21-2-524 a 8 to allege and prove some factual basis or ’cause’ for his or her belief that an error in counting occurred . . . because section 21-2-524 a 8 prohibits the contestant from merely speculating or guessing as to such a cause”.