Second Gasaway Hearing to Reconvene Wednesday

The hearing for the second lawsuit brought by Dan Gasaway will reconvene Wednesday in Banks County Superior Court.

Testimony got underway Monday before Senior Super Court Judge David Sweat in a suit that claims there were numerous voting irregularities in the December 4th Special Primary election between then Incumbent State Representative Dan Gasaway and challenger, Republican businessman Chris Erwin.

Erwin won the Special Primary by just two votes, despite a recount.

In opening arguments, Gasaway’s attorney Jake Evans outlined issues in the suit including, voting irregularities, people who had moved out of the district but voted using their old addresses, rejected voters, and those who voted but did not live in District 28.

Evans said the case is about protecting the rights of the voters.

“With all the dynamics in play in this case, we have to remember what this case is really about; what the Georgia election code is really about protecting; what the Representatives of House District 28 really protect; what rights the voters in House District 28 really have,” he said. “So, this case is not about Dan Gasaway. It’s not about Chris Erwin. It’s not about House District 28. It’s about upholding the Democratic principles upon which this Country was founded.”

Erwin’s attorney Brian Tyson told the court he doesn’t believe there were enough errors or illegal votes to throw the Special Primary results into doubt.

“This is very different than the last contest because of  the issues that are being raised,” Tyson told the court. “I know Mr. Evans has talked about issues related to district assignment, and I’ll get to those in a minute. But unlike the last contest, as a judicial matter, all the defendants are in agreement that this election was conducted properly. There’s no situation like last time that there has been a review and one of the defendants has determined something different. All of the defendants have done a deep dive on all this and we are united in agreement that this election was conducted properly and has not been called into doubt.”

Before testimony began, Judge Sweat excused the witnesses for Stephens County after attorneys for both sides agreed the election here had been conducted properly with no errors or irregularities. Those witnesses included members of the Stephens County Board of Elections and current Registrar Eureka Gober.

“I knew that there was no problem with Stephens County so I’m satisfied with everything that happened this morning,” she said.

Evans then called his first two voters who testified regarding problems they encountered at their voting precinct.

Sandra Denton of Homer testified that the voting machine ejected her card before she could cast a ballot.

“I asked them (poll workers), ‘Now what?’ and they told me that if it popped out it cast it,” she said. “But I sid, ‘I did not it ‘Cast’ so how did my ballot cast if I did not Cast it, all I hit was Preview. Of course, I knew I did not hit cast and it upset me.”

Denton said the poll workers did not offer her a provisional ballot or any other recourse to answer her question. Voting records presented in court showed Denton’s voter registration number did not show up in the list of registered voters in Banks County who cast ballots in the December 4th Special Primary.

In another instance, Michael Burrell of Mt. Airy testified that when he went to vote on November 30, poll workers told him he had already voted by absentee ballot on November 28.

“They told me I had already voted and I told them I had not voted. So I said I wanted to see the paper and whoever signed it. They found the paper and showed it to me and I told them that was not my signature,” Burrell testified.

Voting records presented in Court showed the signatures on the November 28th and 30th voter forms were different.

Monday afternoon, Gasaway took the stand for some three hours regarding research he and his staff conducted on those people who had moved out of the District but had voted December 4th using old addresses on their voter registration cards, and those who voted but did not live in District 28.

The defense called several witnesses Monday afternoon before the session adjourned. The court will hear from more defense witnesses on Wednesday when the hearing reconvenes at 10a.