Gasaway Suit Hearing Set for Next Week in Banks County

A hearing is set for Tuesday, September 18th in Banks County Superior Court to hear arguments in the civil suit filed by State Representative Dan Gasaway.

Gasaway filed his civil suit June 6th in Fulton County against Habersham County Election Superintendent Laurel Ellison, Secretary of State Brian Kemp and District 28 Republican Nominee Chris Erwin after losing May election  to Erwin by just 67 votes districtwide.

In his suit, Gasaway claimed some voters living along the District 28/District 10 dividing line in Habersham County had been given the wrong ballots when they went to vote in May.

The case was recently transferred from Fulton County Superior Court to Banks County after the Habersham County Board of Elections and County officials announced August 30th that they were withdrawing their motion to dismiss Gasaway’s civil suit, admitting there may have been errors in where some Habersham registered voters had cast their ballots during the May General Primary Election

Habersham County attorney Donnie Hunt said in August that Habersham election officials ultimately found there enough wrong ballots cast to warrant a new election.

“We always thought there were less than 67 votes, but in the course of completing the investigation and looking at all of the names in both District 10 and District 28 that’s when she (Laurel Ellison) discovered that actually there were five more than what Mr. Gasaway had alleged. So it was at least 70 that were in the wrong district that had actually voted,” he said.

In an interview with Habersham County Commission Chair Victor Anderson, Anderson told WNEG News the process to determine which voters lived in which House District was long and complicated.

“On some properties they had to actually determine where the house is in relation to that line, even though part of the property was in 28 and part in 10. Where the house resides, determines where the voter lives. It was a fairly complicated process,” he said.

About 300 letters were sent out to voters living on that dividing line informing them they may have been placed in the wrong House District and that they were being moved to the other House District.

“I applaud the Habersham County Commissioners for doing the right thing by conceding to a new election,” Gasaway said last month. “We anticipate Banks and Stephens counties to follow in this concession. We’re hopeful that Chris Erwin will place the integrity and fairness of our electoral system and the right of voters in House 28 to select their State Representtaie above his personal interest by likewise consenting to a new election.”

In July, Erwin’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss Gasaway’s suit claiming it had been filed in the wrong County (Fulton) and that the difference in votes did not meet the requirements needed to call for a new election.

After Habersham County’s withdrawal of their petition to dismiss, Erwin told WNEG News  he plans to continue his fight to get the case thrown out.

“A new election will cost even more to reach the same result. Despite months of investigation, Dan has not shown that the outcome of the election would have changed, because there’s no doubt that a number of the people he claims voted improperly would have voted for me.”

Erwin said he will await the court’s ruling.