Judge Stays Federal Paper Ballot Case Pending Appeal
In a five-page order issued Tuesday, District Judge Amy Totenberg granted the stay, even though she said the secretary of state's counsel “have not provided a sound legal basis” that she erred in not dismissing the lawsuit.
October 23, 2018 at 07:39 PM
3 minute read
A federal judge in Atlanta has agreed to stay ongoing litigation over alleged vulnerabilities in Georgia's antiquated electronic voting system until Secretary of State Brian Kemp's appeal has been resolved.
In a five-page order issued Tuesday, Judge Amy Totenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted the stay, even though she said Kemp's counsel “have not provided a sound legal basis” that she erred in not dismissing the lawsuit.
However, Totenberg added she was “not prepared to declare the defendants' position wholly frivolous,” even as she acknowledged the case “presents evolving circumstances and cyber issues affecting the integrity of the voting process (and results) at this particular moment in history.”
Totenberg said she arrived at the decision “despite the unfortunate mischaracterizations of the proceedings, complaint allegations, and rulings that pepper the state defendants' brief in support of their motion.”
The defendants, which include Kemp and members of the state Board of Elections, are represented by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and law partner John Salter Jr., both of The Barnes Law Group in Marietta.
Last month, Kemp and the election board scored a win when Totenberg decided not to issue an injunction directing the state to junk its electronic voting machines and return to paper ballots for the midterm election. Early voting began Oct. 15. The lawsuit was filed jointly by several Georgia voters and the Coalition for Good Governance, a nonprofit organization.
The defendants promptly appealed, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta to overturn Totenberg's refusal to dismiss the case and her ruling that state election officials are not entitled to immunity.
Kemp, who is running for governor on the Republican ticket, is a defendant in three other federal lawsuits involving the state's “exact match” policies regarding voter registration applications and paper absentee ballots.
Totenberg's decision also stays any ruling on a new injunction motion filed by Atlanta attorney Bruce Brown for the coalition. Taking a cue from Totenberg, who said Georgia's current voting system “poses a concrete risk of alteration of ballot counts,” Brown asked her to consider mandating the state to undertake interim measures that would have instituted audits of paper ballot tallies, mandated paper backup voter registration rolls in every precinct in the state and stopped the state from discouraging county election boards from converting to paper ballots without a court order.
Totenberg's decision to stay the case also pauses a motion by David Cross—an attorney at Morrison & Foerster in Washington, D.C., who represents the plaintiff voters.
Cross moved to sever his clients' claims from those made by the Coalition for Good Governance on Oct. 8. Cross cited “harmful delays and waste of resources” that resulted from “being tied to the coalition plaintiffs.” He also suggested that delays in seeking a preliminary injunction that would have mandated paper ballots for the midterm election were “due to strategic choices” made by the coalition that he claimed “needlessly slowed this case.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllGeorgia Appeals Court Cancels Hearing in Election Interference Case Against Trump
3 minute readJustice Department Says Fulton County Jail Conditions Violate Detainee Rights
6 minute readSupreme Court Rejects Push to Move Georgia Case Against Ex-Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
3 minute read3 GOP States Join Paid Sick Leave Movement, Passing Ballot Measures by Wide Margins
5 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Contract Software Unicorn Ironclad Hires Former Pinterest Lawyer as GC
- 2European, US Litigation Funding Experts Look for Commonalities at NYU Event
- 3UPS Agrees to $45M Settlement With SEC Over Valuation Claim
- 4For Midsize Law Firms, Curbing Boys-Club Culture Starts with Diversity at the Top
- 5Southern California Law Firms Boast Industry-Leading Revenue, Demand Through Q3
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250