Republicans try to stop Saturday voting in Georgia runoff

ATLANTA (AP) — Republican groups appealed to Georgia's highest court Tuesday in an attempt to prohibit early voting this Saturday in the U.S. Senate runoff election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

The Georgia Republican Party, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee filed the appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court. They are asking the high court to issue an emergency stay of a lower court ruling that said Georgia law does allow voting this Saturday.

The runoff Election Day is scheduled for Dec. 6

The time-sensitive legal battle began after Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger issued guidance to county election officials that said early voting could not be held on Nov. 26 because state law says it is illegal on a Saturday if there is a holiday on the Thursday or Friday preceding it. Thursday is Thanksgiving and Friday is a state holiday.

Warnock's campaign along with the Democratic Party of Georgia and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sued last week to challenge that guidance. They argued that the prohibition on Saturday early voting after a holiday applies only to a primary or general election but not to a runoff.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox sided with the Warnock campaign and the Democratic groups. He issued an order Friday saying Georgia law “does not specifically prohibit counties from conducting advanced voting on Saturday, November 26, 2022, for a runoff election.”

The state on Monday appealed that ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, the state's intermediate appellate court. They argued that the ruling was erroneous for procedural reasons and also that Cox was wrong to consider the runoff a separate type of election rather...