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By Reuters 
5h ago
ATLANTA – A federal appeals court on Saturday rejected an offer by a conservative attorney to block President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia and put procedures in place that will make it easier for voters to cast absentee ballots in January, when there are two seats in the Senate. grab.
Federal District Judge Steven Grimberg, who was nominated by Trump, rejected the arguments of attorney L. Lin Wood and found in a Nov. 20 opinion that the attorney had no standing to sue.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta agreed with the lower court, saying that Wood had not “alleged a particular injury” and that the request was moot anyway since Georgia had already certified the election. .
“We cannot hold post-election contests on vote counting and misconduct issues that can be properly brought up in state courts,” the appeals court said in its ruling.
The ruling also means Georgia officials will need to notify absentee voters so they can fix problems with their ballot in the next US Senate election.
On January 5, Georgia holds a runoff to its two US Senate seats, which will determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the chamber.
Wood sought to overturn a lower court judge who refused to stop Georgia officials from certifying Biden’s state election.
The appeals court ruling was decided by a panel of three judges, two of whom had once been considered by US President Donald Trump for US Supreme Court positions.
It’s another setback for Trump’s supporters in their risky attempt to reverse Biden’s victories. They have suffered legal losses in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All of these states have already certified their election results.
Wood’s lawsuit claimed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger violated state law in March when he reached an agreement with the Democratic Party to settle a lawsuit over 8,157 ballots that were thrown out in the 2018 general election.
Under the agreement, officials added levels of review before rejecting signatures on absentee ballots and were asked to notify voters of absentee ballot defects.
REUTERS
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