The left’s favorite election denier, twice failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, just lost a major court case pertaining to her 2018 claims that then-Secretary of State and now Georgia Governor Brian Kemp “stole” the gubernatorial election and, as a result, will have to reimburse Georgia for the court costs of dealing with her false claims.
A pro-Trump Twitter account posted about the Abrams lawsuit loss on Twitter, saying “A federal judge has ordered the Stacey Abrams group, Fair Fight Action, to pay $230,000 in fees to the state of Georgia over erroneous claims that Republican Governor Brian Kemp stole the 2018 election.” The same account snarkily added, “Hopefully this doesn’t hurt Stacey’s buffet budget too much!”
Hopefully this doesn’t hurt Stacey’s buffet budget too much!
— Proud Elephant 🇺🇸🦅 (@ProudElephantUS) January 11, 2023
The Washington Free Beacon provided more details on that, noting that the courtroom defeat occurred in September after a four-year legal battle but the bill of costs that Stacey’s group will have to pay was submitted on Tuesday the tenth, saying:
Abrams founded the group after losing to then-secretary of state Kemp, who she claimed used his position to disenfranchise minority voters in the lead-up to the election. A federal judge in late September ruled against Fair Fight Action on all counts following a four-year legal battle, saying the group provided no direct evidence that Georgia voters struggled to vote in the election.
Fair Fight Action must repay $192,628.85 in transcription fees and $38,674.86 in copying costs that Georgia incurred in defending itself against the group’s lawsuit, according to a bill of costs submitted Tuesday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
At the time of the September victory for Governor Kemp and Georgia, Georgia Secretary of State Raffensberger said “This is a win for all Georgia election officials who dedicate their lives to safe, secure and accessible elections. Stolen election and voter suppression claims by Stacey Abrams were nothing but poll-tested rhetoric not supported by facts and evidence.”
Raffensberger’s office provided more details about Abrams’ spurious allegations and the state of Georgia’s election security measures, saying:
Stacey Abrams-founded Fair Fight Action and other plaintiffs filed an initial complaint in November 2018, shortly after Abrams lost her bid to become Georgia’s Governor, alleging illegal and unconstitutional practices had denied the right to vote to thousands of Georgians. The allegations attempted to raise issues regarding Georgia’s absentee ballot procedures, voter registration, and voter list management practices. The court has denied every allegation on each issue.
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From the beginning Raffensperger argued that Georgia’s elections systems and procedures were accessible and secure, and acknowledged the challenge in balancing voter access with election integrity while strictly abiding by voting laws and the Constitution. In its decision, the court agreed, noting the impossibility of perfect elections given the millions of voters and tens of thousands of poll workers necessary to run an election, “[a]lthough Georgia’s election system is not perfect, the challenged practices violate neither the constitution nor the Voting Rights Act (VRA.)”
Abrams lost substantially enough in the 2022 race that she didn’t bring similar, even more obviously spurious challenges regarding the election.