Stacey Abrams Group Ordered To Reimburse Georgia Over Election Lawsuit

A federal judge has ordered Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action to pay over $200,000 to reimburse the state of Georgia for legal fees related to a false lawsuit that claimed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp cheated his way through the 2018 gubernatorial election.

Fair Fight Action and other plaintiffs lost the four-year suit last September. The group claimed the Peach State infringed on voting rights. The judgment includes compensation of roughly $193,000 for trial costs and $38,000 for exhibit copies utilized during the case.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger applauded this decision as he argued that Abrams should receive a stricter punishment.

According to the Georgia attorney general’s office, the suit cost the state about $6 million. However, the court’s ruling does not capture attorney fees for Georgia’s legal defense.

“This is a win for taxpayers and voters who knew all along that Stacey Abrams[’s] voter suppression claims were false, it has never been easier to vote and harder to cheat in the state of Georgia,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “This is a start, but I think Stacey Abrams should pay back the millions of taxpayer dollars the state was forced to spend to disprove her false claims.”

 

“While the Court’s actions are not the preferred outcome, the conduct of this trial and preceding cases and legislative actions represent a hard-won victory for voters who endured long lines, burdensome date of birth requirements and exact match laws that disproportionately impact Black and Brown voters,” Abrams said in response to the ruling.

Abrams established Fair Fight Action after her loss to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), asserting that state laws suppressed voting.

Abrams lost the 2018 election but refused to concede, citing voter suppression. She lost the governor’s race by over 50,000 votes in Georgia, after which she then claimed “efforts to undermine” voters’ rights were in motion.

Abrams has continued to challenge the election outcome based on “voter suppression. Abrams claimed the gubernatorial election was “stolen from Georgians” and that the officials made it difficult to register voters and maintain voter rows.