Judge says Georgia law allows Saturday voting for runoff

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge on Friday said Georgia law allows counties to offer early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is the only possibility for Saturday voting before next month's Senate runoff election between Democratic Sen Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

Warnock's campaign, along with the Democratic Party of Georgia and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, filed a lawsuit this week arguing that early voting should be allowed that day. They were challenging guidance by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that said it would be illegal to hold early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26, the day after a state holiday.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox on Friday issued an order saying Georgia law “does not specifically prohibit counties from conducting advanced voting on Saturday, November 26, 2022, for a runoff election.” He also prohibited the state from interfering in efforts to hold early voting that day or preventing any votes cast that day from being counted.

“We disagree with the Court’s order and look forward to a prompt appeal,” Raffensperger's office said in an emailed statement.

During a hearing earlier Friday, Uzoma Nkwonta, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, noted that last week both Raffensperger and one of his top deputies said on national television that early voting would be allowed that day. Then, Nkwonta said, the secretary of state issued guidance to counties a few days later saying it wouldn't be allowed because the law doesn't permit early voting the day after a state holiday. Thanksgiving and the following Friday are both state holidays.

Nkwonta argued at the hearing that the state holiday restriction applies only to primary and general elections, not to runoffs. Provisions in the law that directs...