Filed Date: Dec. 17, 2020
Closed Date: Dec. 18, 2020
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This case involved allegations that Georgia election officials failed to adequately prevent unlawful double voting in the January 2021 run-off election for Georgia’s U.S. Senators due to the alleged debasement and dilution of the right to vote in contravention of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.
On December 17, 2020, the Georgia Republican Party, Inc., the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Perdue for Senate, Georgians for Kelly Loeffler, along with three Georgia residents, all represented by private counsel, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (Brunswick) to seek declaratory and injunctive relief by requesting the Court to declare that the counting and certifying of certain alleged double votes was unlawful and to segregate and investigate the alleged double votes. Defendants included individuals acting in their official capacities as the Secretary of State of Georgia, the State Election Board, the Glynn County Board of Elections, and the Chatham County Board of Elections. Plaintiffs alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. § 10307, and the U.S. Constitution's First and Fourteenth Amendments. The case was assigned to Judge Lisa Godbey Wood.
In Plaintiffs' Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction, filed on December 17, 2020, Plaintiffs made five key allegations. First, Plaintiffs alleged that the Georgia election officials' tabulation and certification of unlawful double votes was violative of the Voting Rights Act because it was unlawful to vote more than once in any general, special, or preliminary election held for the purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the U.S. Senate. Second, the Georgia election officials' tabulation and certification of ballots cast by individuals who had already voted for a U.S. Senator in another state violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because of the "one person, two votes" conceptual scheme that would effectively deny the voting strength of one group of voters at the expense of another, which violates equal protection. Third, the debasement or dilution of votes placed an undue and fundamentally unfair burden on Plaintiffs' voting and associational rights to vote in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Fourth, the Georgia election officials would violate Plaintiffs' due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment because voting was a protected liberty interest which afforded Plaintiffs the right to assert the burdens on the right to vote. Fifth and finally, Plaintiffs alleged that they would suffer irreparable injury to their right to vote and associate if unlawful double votes were mixed in with all other ballots to be counted and certified.
Thus, Plaintiffs sought a declaration that it was unlawful to vote for a U.S. Senator candidate in the 2020 general election in a different state and vote in the Georgia-run off election, and a preliminary injunction for Georgia election officials to segregate all ballots cast by voters who registered during the time period immediately preceding the January 2021 run-off election and to investigate whether such voters had voted twice.
On December 18, 2020, a hearing on Plaintiffs' Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction was held. The Court dismissed Plaintiffs' Complaint for lack of standing, denied as moot their Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction, and dismissed the case with prejudice.
Summary Authors
Julie Vo (10/31/2023)
Aileen Ng (11/8/2023)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18239282/parties/georgia-republican-party-inc-v-raffensperger/
Gibson, Benjamin J. (Georgia)
Meros, George N. (Georgia)
Davenport, Jennifer R. (Georgia)
Hart, Ralph Jonathan (Georgia)
Lewis, Joyce Gist (Georgia)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18239282/georgia-republican-party-inc-v-raffensperger/
Last updated Aug. 9, 2025, 10:42 p.m.
State / Territory: Georgia
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA) project
Key Dates
Filing Date: Dec. 17, 2020
Closing Date: Dec. 18, 2020
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Georgia Republican Party, Inc. (a state committee, GA political party and official Republican Party organization of GA); National Republican Senatorial Committee (Republican political committee and national political party); Perdue for Senate (principal campaign committee supporting David A. Perdue's campaign for US Senate); Georgians for Kelly Loeffler (principal campaign committee supporting Kelly L. Loeffler's campaign for US Senate); Bethany Ballard (GA resident); Ashley Gilles (GA resident); and Jean M. Seaver (GA resident).
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Secretary of State of Georgia (Alanta, Fulton), State
Georgia State Election Board (Alanta, Fulton), State
Glynn County Board of Elections (Brunswick, Glynn), County
Chatham County Board of Elections (Savannah, Chatham), County
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Voting Rights Act, unspecified, 52 U.S.C. § 10301 et seq (previously 42 U.S.C § 1973 et seq.)
Constitutional Clause(s):
Due Process: Procedural Due Process
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Defendant
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Content of Injunction:
Issues
Voting: