Georgia lawyers with both blue and red leanings have decamped to battleground election states - with more on standby - as both presidential campaigns prepare for the fight before, during and, potentially, after Election Day.
Republicans in Georgia have lawyers ready to staff a voter hotline here and have dispatched more to several states with other GOP heavy legal hitters ready to go where necessary next week.
Democrats, too, have Georgia lawyers already in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, with more headed to those states.
“We do have quite a few GOP Georgia lawyer volunteers for this election - our biggest group ever,” Anne Lewis, the state GOP’s general counsel, said.
She and Randy Evans, her predecessor in the post and attorney to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, are among those ready to go next week.
Neither side would divulge many details, preferring to keep most lawyers’ names, numbers and specific destinations private for now.
“We have Georgia lawyers already in Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio,” Michael Jablonski, the chief counsel for President Barack Obama’s Georgia campaign, said. “We have more that will be dispatched this weekend.”
Richard L. Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, and an election law expert, said these lawyers serve three functions.
One is to volunteer for a candidate like any other volunteer — knock on doors and help get out the vote. A second is to observe polling places and report any problems.
“Lawyers know how to advocate and know what’s important in terms of a situation of conflict,” Hasen said. “They are good people to have around in those kinds of circumstances.”
Their final role would to do legal work related to election problems - but only if they are licensed in that state.
“Most of the lawyers who are going to these battleground states fall into the first two categories,” Hasen said.
In Georgia, more than 100 legal professionals will fan out across metro Atlanta for the non-partisan Georgia Election Protection effort. Sarah Shalf chairs the group’s legal committee and said they will focus on precincts with large minority populations and will operate a voting hotline to answer questions and resolve disputes [1-866-OUR-VOTE].
Recruiting for Election Protection was more difficult this year, she said.
“We believe that is because the partisan organizations have had a pretty significant success in their efforts,” she said.
Tex McIver, vice-chairman of Georgia’s State Election Board, said he will help Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s anti-voter fraud effort in Florida. There is no ethical conflict to keep McIver, whom the Senate appointed to the election board in 2005, from serving Romney’s campaign in Florida.
“Operating out of the Florida Unified Republican Command Center in Tampa, I will be reviewing reports taken by phone from poll watchers throughout the state who perceive or observe voting fraud,” McIver said. If a problem is alleged, McIver will send legal teams to respond.
Franita Tolson, a Florida State University law professor, said lawyers flooding her state will have plenty to do.
“They’re trying to document whether there are any irregularities,” she said. “You definitely want to have lawyers around so you can make your case to a judge.”
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