The election saga in Northeast Georgia’s House District 28 has been among the longest and strangest in recent memory, and in the latest twist the Secretary of State’s office has opened an investigation into voter fraud in the district.
Last May state Rep. Dan Gasaway (R-Homer) was defeated by challenger Chris Erwin in the Republican primary by 67 votes. Shortly after that result came in Gasaway and his attorney, Jake Evans of Atlanta, discovered that mapping mistakes had incorrectly assigned an unknown number of voters to a neighboring district, and also allowed some voters in the neighboring district to vote in HD-28. Senior Superior Court Judge David Sweat ordered a ‘redo,’ set for December, as Gasaway slammed the Habersham County elections office, calling it a “complete disaster” and lamenting that “It is going to take disciplinary action from the Secretary of State’s Office to get this corrected.”
Half a year later and voters headed to the polls to choose between Gasaway and Erwin once more. Erwin won for a second time, but by just two votes, putting the result well within the margin of error. Gasaway immediately contested the election, claiming that 21 individuals had improperly voted in the race when they did not actually live in the district.
As Judge Sweat examined Gasaway’s findings, Erwin was sworn into the House of Representatives and began work in the 2019 legislative session.
Not so fast.
Upon further review, Sweat determined following a trial last week that four voters had improperly voted in the redo runoff when they did not actually reside in the district. Thus he had no choice but to nullify the results, removing Erwin from office and setting up an unheard-of third primary election, (thankfully there was no Democrat waiting). A date for the double-redo has not yet been set by Sweat.
The case plagued then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp throughout last fall, and now current Secretary Brad Raffensperger has clearly had enough, announcing Thursday that his office has opened an investigation into “potential instances of voter fraud” in the district.
“Eliminating voter fraud is essential to strengthening the integrity of Georgia’s elections, which is why I am committed to fighting against crimes that undermine our most fundamental institutions and sow doubt in our communities,” said Raffensperger Thursday. “Voter fraud has no place in Georgia’s elections, and my office will exhaust every avenue to investigate instances of abuse and prevent further injustice.”
Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. And there has been a whole lot of smoke coming from Habersham County. Here’s hoping Raffensperger and his Investigations Division can find the source.
