Judge Gives Raphael Warnock Major Victory

A judge in Georgia ruled that early voting for the U.S. Senate runoff elections can start on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The decision was made by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. who heard arguments for this case on Friday.

Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign, the Democratic Party of Georgia, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee both sued the State of Georgia, claiming that the Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger had often misread the state’s election law and made a choice which party to apply.

The plaintiffs wrote in their lawsuit that the state ban on having election sites open after a holiday is only applied to general elections and primaries, and not to runoffs. On December 6th, Georgia is set to hold a runoff election between Democrat Sen. Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

Cox Jr. wrote that based on this ruling Counties would be allowed to provide advanced voting from Saturday, November 26th, 2022. It also stated that the defendant is prohibited from interfering in any way with the county’s decision to provide advance voting.

Following the court’s decision Raffensperger claimed that Warnock and Democrats are trying to change the state’s election laws to benefit their own political preferences. He added that instead of adding pressure to counties Warnock should instead allow them to continue preparing for the upcoming runoff elections.

Warnock’s campaign and the state Democratic Party have maintained that this decision is a major win for voters.