A Fulton County judge has rejected a third lawsuit from Julie Adams, a Georgia Republican official on the county’s Board of Elections and Registration, who sought to obtain voter and poll complaints, as well as other information, to assist in certifying the results’ accuracy.
Adams argued in previous suits that without access to Election Materials and Processes, board members were left to rely solely on the representations of the Elections Director, according to court records. Her latest filing requested information on complaints from poll workers, poll watchers, and local voters, even though Fulton County officials had approved a similar document request the previous week.
In a related October 14 ruling on her second lawsuit, filed in September, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that county election officials play a “mandatory” role in vote certifications. He stated that no election official can refuse or abstain from certifying results under any circumstance. However, he found that Adams was indeed entitled to the information she sought. Yet, since Adams appealed the previous decision, McBurney wrote on Monday that he was unable to enforce that part of the ruling due to the appeal’s stay.
“It is flattering to see the final order … so prominently in a subsequent piece of litigation, it is also futile,” Judge McBurney wrote in his decision. “The final order has been stayed — by plaintiff’s own doing. … For that prosaic reason, and not for any judgment on the merits of her underlying request, Plaintiff’s application is DENIED.”
Adams’ legal efforts began in May with a suit against the Fulton County election board and its director, Nadine Williams. She alleged that Williams and other officials had obstructed her from performing her duties by denying her access to essential election materials and processes. According to her complaint, Adams’ requests for data were blocked by direct instructions from the board chair, who told staff to deny Adams access to key election information.
Adams contended that Williams had informed her that supporting documentation wasn’t necessary, as her office’s summaries were subjected to a “rigorous validation process” and should simply be trusted. Adams said that, without being able to verify the accuracy of returns and inspect Fulton County’s election processes, she felt compelled to vote against certification of election results.
