Attorney Lin Wood on Dec. 30 filed an emergency petition in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block next week’s Georgia Senate runoff election, days after his lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge.
Wood, an attorney with President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, filed his petition (pdf) on Wednesday seeking a judge’s order to halt the Jan. 5, 2021, runoff races for U.S. Senate in Georgia, “until such time as the respondents agree to comply with the Georgia Legislature’s prescribed election procedures.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Vice Chair of the Georgia State Election Board Rebecca N. Sullivan, members of the Georgia State Election Board David J. Worley, Matthew Mashburn, and Anh Le are listed as respondents.
The attorney’s petition also requests that a judge orders the preservation of election-related materials, and asks that election officials produce one voting machine used in the Nov. 3 presidential election from each Georgia county for forensic examination.
It comes just days after Wood filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta earlier this month, saying the secretary of state’s office violated the law in how it handled absentee and mail-in ballots during the Nov. 3 election. Wood argued that the state’s process to verify signatures on ballots was flawed, among other allegations.
Wood’s request for injunctive relief was denied by U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten Sr. on Dec. 28, saying that the allegations in the lawsuit are speculative, while asserting that Wood lacked standing.
The petition states that the district court “erred” when it “summarily” dismissed Wood’s lawsuit that was “supported by numerous fact and expert witness declarations and affidavits.”
Wood’s suit to the district court is “part of a larger effort to expose and reverse an unprecedent [sic] conspiracy to steal the 2020 General Election, as well as the January 5, 2021 senatorial runoff election in the State of Georgia,” it states.
Wood and others “seek to expose the massive coordinated election fraud that occurred in the 2020 General Election, that will inevitably repeat itself” in the senate runoffs, the petition claims.
Raffensberger, in a statement on Dec. 28, said that his office “time and time again” has been able to fend off lawsuits related to the Nov. 3 election.
“We have successfully fought off lawsuits from the right and the left looking to undermine rule of law in Georgia,” Raffensberger wrote. “The numerous baseless and frivolous lawsuits … are just the latest in a long history of lawsuits to nowhere in Georgia.”
The Jan. 5, 2021, runoff election pits Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock—with control of the Senate possibly at stake.
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.