HOMER — Voters in Habersham, Banks and Stephens counties will have another opportunity to elect a House District 28 Representative in the Georgia Legislature.
On Tuesday, Senior Judge David Sweat set aside the May 22 House District 28 Republican Primary, saying ballot errors led to at least 70 voters who were assigned to the wrong state House district. That’s three more than the 67-vote margin of victory that challenger Chris Erwin had over incumbent Rep. Dan Gasaway, casting doubt on the results of that primary.
Wednesday morning, attorneys for Gasaway, Erwin, Stephens County and Habersham County appeared before Sweat for a determination of when a new election might be held.
“We really, really wanted this to go forward on Nov. 6,” Gasaway’s attorney Jake Evans told the judge. “We thought it was best for all involved.”
After hearing from all parties and allowing them to contact the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, Sweat set the new election for Dec. 4 in the counties with affected precincts.
Dec. 4 is the runoff date for the Nov. 6 General Primary, so polls likely already will be open on that day.
The new House District 28 election will be open to all registered voters in the district who were eligible to vote May 22 and who remain eligible to vote. Additionally, voters cannot have voted a Democratic ballot on May 22.
Sweat said he hoped to issue a written order by the close of business Wednesday.
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s legal proceedings, Gasaway talked with AccessWDUN.
“The judge made a ruling that we expected back on June 5 when we realized Habersham County had admitted to all these errors,” Gasaway said. “We’re just glad to be at the finish line, or what we hope is the finish line. Obviously, there’s an opportunity for the others to appeal, but we really feel like the facts were clear and the law is clear, and the right decision was made.”
Initially, Stephens County Attorney Brian Ranck said he would like to see the new election happen on Nov. 6 to save the taxpayers money, but after learning that the Secretary of State’s Office said the new primary on Dec. 4 would be the only election required to determine the seat agreed to the later date.
“We were pushing, as you heard, to have it on the November ballot so that the taxpayers of the district would not have any additional cost,” Gasaway told AccessWDUN. “There may be a runoff in December in another race that will prepare with us. We fought as hard as we could, but the other side wanted a special election, basically, so that’s what we got.”
Brian Tyson, attorney for Erwin, initially argued that Erwin’s name should be allowed on the Nov. 6 General Election ballot with a notice posted at each voting machine and on the door of each precinct that votes cast for him would not county. That was in case his client decided to appeal Wednesday’s superior court ruling.
Ultimately, Sweat decided that would be confusing, and Tyson acknowledged that if the new election was scheduled for Dec. 4, he conceded it was acceptable for Erwin’s name not to be on the November ballot.
Gasaway’s attorney had argued against Erwin’s name remaining on the November ballots in the district and Sweat agreed after learning that ballots for the three counties had not been printed as of Wednesday’s proceedings.
Gasaway agreed with Sweat’s guidance on who should be allowed to vote in the new election, which was those who were eligible to vote May 22 and who remain eligible to vote should be able to cast ballots on Dec. 4.
“I think based on the confusion that we’ve pointed out throughout this case, that is the fairest thing to give the largest pool of voters possible an opportunity to vote,” Gasaway said. “That’s what our country is founded on. Now the voters decide if they vote or not, but I don’t think excluding any voters — other than those that pulled the Democratic ballot in May — is right. We’re disenfranchising people again, when this whole case was about disenfranchising voters and how it needs to stop.”
Erwin also talked with AccessWDUN at the conclusion of Wednesday’s proceedings.
“Obviously, we felt we proved our case,” Erwin said. “We also felt again, like we said yesterday, that we’ve won this race one time, but we’re in it to win it and we’ll win it again now on Dec. 4. We’ll do the planning, and do what I’ve been doing, and that is get out there, meet the people, hear the issues and start representing. We’re going to continue to do that until the voters can make a decision on Dec. 4.”
Erwin said he is pleased with the Dec. 4 election date.
“I feel it clarifies it, makes it much easier for everybody than other dates that were proposed, so yes, I’m comfortable with Dec. 4,” Erwin said.
Habersham County Elections Supervisor Laurel Ellison said the new election being held Dec. 4 will be easier to administer than if it had been on a separate ballot on Nov. 6.
“As far as getting ballots ready, once the state gets the order or the call from our attorney, then we’ll get the database tomorrow and we can order ballots and get those in hopefully within a week or two, then we’ll be preparing for the November without Mr. Erwin’s name on it, and then we will move on the Dec. 4 election.”
Since the House District 28 race involves Habersham County’s two largest precincts, Habersham North and Habersham South, had the judge ordered that it be held as a separate election on Nov. 6, Ellison said it could have created longer lines for voters at those locations.
The district also is voted on at the Town of Mt. Airy Precinct, Ellison said.
Setting the new election on Dec. 4 means Habersham County will be able to allocate voting machines where they are needed.
“That definitely takes the pressure off because that was a concern that we would not have enough machines to properly have at our precincts to create less lines,” Ellison told AccessWDUN. “Hopefully most people are going to vote early anyway.”
