The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a case challenging the results of a close Fulton County state House contest last year.
Democratic state Rep. Shea Roberts defeated Republican incumbent Deborah Silcox in November by 377 votes — about 1.1 percentage points. Five days after the results were certified, Warren Schmitz, a Sandy Springs resident who lives in their House District 52, filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections alleging that it allowed illegal voters to cast ballots.
In the unanimous opinion, Justice Charlie Bethel wrote that a lower court was correct in dismissing the case because state law requires the person filing a lawsuit to overturn an election to notify the candidates. Roberts had not been served by the time of the March hearing — or by the time the judge issued his ruling in April.
“(T)he record before the superior court supports the court’s finding that Roberts was never served and that Schmitz did not exercise diligence in seeing that she was served,” Bethel wrote.
Ray Smith III, an attorney for Schmitz, said his client may ask the court to reconsider its decision.
Roberts, an Atlanta attorney, said she was relieved the case was settled and that she was ready to represent her district “without a cloud” over her head.
“It was dismissed because of service, and I think that is telling in and of itself because they knew where to find me for 40 days early this year,” she said, referring to being at the state Capitol during the legislative session. “And they didn’t submit a single shred of actual evidence, so I think the way it was dismissed is just further evidence that it was just perpetuating the ‘big lie’ and trying to disrupt our electoral process.”
Backers of former President Donald Trump and many Republican elected officials in Georgia repeatedly questioned the results of the presidential contest, with several lawsuits filed and dismissed claiming voter fraud. They claimed thousands of illegal votes were cast without offering credible proof.
However, many of the Republican lawmakers who won reelection in November didn’t question the results of their own races.
Smith said he and his client are disappointed that the court chose to completely dismiss the case, versus ruling that Roberts did not have to be part of the proceedings and allow the suit to continue.
“This unfortunately continues the pattern of appellate courts in the state and other places of allowing cases to be dismissed summarily and not allowing the election contest to be decided on its merits,” Smith said.
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