Georgia court declines to halt Saturday early runoff voting - The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia appeals tribunal ruling connected Monday means that counties tin connection aboriginal voting this coming Saturday successful the U.S. Senate runoff predetermination betwixt Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

The Court of Appeals declined a petition by the authorities to enactment a little court’s ruling that said authorities instrumentality allows aboriginal voting that day.

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had told region predetermination officials that aboriginal voting could not beryllium held that time due to the fact that authorities instrumentality says it is amerciable connected a Saturday if determination is simply a vacation connected the Thursday oregon Friday preceding it.

Warnock’s campaign, on with the Democratic Party of Georgia and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, sued past week to situation that guidance.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, and Friday is simply a authorities holiday. The Saturday pursuing those 2 holidays is the lone anticipation for Saturday voting earlier adjacent month’s Senate runoff predetermination betwixt Warnock and Walker.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox connected Friday issued an bid siding with the Warnock run and the Democratic groups. He recovered that the instrumentality cited by the authorities regarding Saturday voting aft a vacation does not use to a runoff election.

Lawyers for the authorities filed an entreaty connected Monday with the Georgia Court of Appeals. They asked the tribunal to instantly enactment the little tribunal ruling.

They argued successful a tribunal filing that the ruling was erroneous for procedural reasons but besides that Cox was incorrect to see the runoff a abstracted benignant of predetermination alternatively than a continuation of the wide election.

In a one-sentence bid Monday, the Georgia Court of Appeals declined to enactment the little tribunal ruling.

It’s not wide however galore counties volition unfastened polling places for voting connected Saturday.

Warnock and Walker, a erstwhile shot player, were forced into a Dec. 6 runoff due to the fact that neither won a bulk successful the midterm election this month.

Georgia’s 2021 predetermination instrumentality compressed the clip play betwixt the wide predetermination and the runoff to 4 weeks, and Thanksgiving falls successful the middle. Many Georgians volition beryllium offered lone 5 weekdays of aboriginal in-person voting opening Nov. 28.