(The Center Square) — Georgia taxpayers are on the hook to cover the bulk of the state’s cost to defend a lawsuit that alleged voter suppression in the 2018 election, state officials confirmed this week.
Fair Fight Action, founded by failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and other groups filed a lawsuit in November 2018, alleging Georgia’s election processes denied thousands of residents the ability to vote. The allegations centered on Georgia’s absentee ballot procedures, voter registration and voter list management practices.
Last September, U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones ruled in favor of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the state elections board.
This week, a judge ruled that Fair Fight must pay the state $231,303 in expenses. However, Peach State taxpayers will pick up the balance of the nearly $6 million the state spent on its defense.
In addition to its in-house counsel, Attorney General Chris Carr’s office used the Robbins Firm and Taylor English to bolster the state’s defense, the office confirmed to The Center Square.
Despite taxpayers being on the hook for roughly $5.7 million, in a statement, Raffensperger called the ruling “a win for taxpayers and voters who knew all along that Stacey Abrams’ voter suppression claims were false.”
“It has never been easier to vote and harder to cheat in the state of Georgia,” Raffensperger said in a news release. “This is a start, but I think Stacey Abrams should pay back the millions of taxpayer dollars the state was forced to spend to disprove her false claims.”
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
