Hearing for Second Gasaway Lawsuit Gets Underway Today in Homer

A second lawsuit filed by former 28th District State Houses Representative Dan Gasaway begins today in Banks County Superior Court.

The suit contests the results of the December 4th Special Primary.

Gasaway lost the Special Primary to Republican businessman Chris Erwin by just two votes. Erwin was sworn in as the new District 28 Representative on January 14 at the start of the 2019 General Assembly.

On December 17th, Gasaway filed a lawsuit alleging misconduct and irregularities on the part of all three County Boards of Elections that caused them to accept illegal votes and reject eligible votes.

“We have problems in all three counties this time. We have problems in all three counties that we’re going to bring to the courts,” he said the day after he filed the suit. “What we have found is that I did win the election. If you take away the illegal votes, I won the election. So, there’s no remedy that a judge can provide except to order another election at this point. So, we’re probably going to have to go through that whole thing again.”

Gasaway’s latest lawsuit names the County Registrars and Boards of Elections in Habersham, Stephens and Banks counties, along with the certified winner of the Special Primary, Republican businessman Chris Erwin.

Gasaway initially lost to Erwin in the May Republican Primary by 67 votes and last June he filed his first lawsuit claiming some voters in Habersham County had been given the wrong ballots.

At a September hearing in Banks County, Senior Superior Court Judge David Sweat agreed there had been voting errors in Habersham and ordered a new Special Primary for December 4th.

After the Special Primary, Gasaway asked for a recount and the results came out the same.

In this latest suit, his attorneys offer proof their client won the election by listing alleged incidents of illegal voting and misconduct.

It concludes thata a total of 14 illegal votes, if corrected, would change the outcome of the December 4th Special Primary.

Also listed are several incidents in which voters were allegedly denied their right to vote by poll workers who said they were not eligible, did not live in District 28, or told they had already voted.

Gasaway’s attorney Jake Evans told the Northeast Georgian last week that since filing the suit more than 50 disinfranchised voters have been identified.

Judge Sweat will again preside over this second hearing in Banks County Superior Court.