The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously dismissed Suzannah Heimel’s appeal of the Oconee County Superior Court ruling just before the Nov. 5 election denying Heimel’s request for a writ of mandamus.
Heimel had asked Oconee County Superior Court Chief Judge Lisa Lott to force Oconee County to hold a hearing on a challenge filed by Victoria Cruz to the registration of 228 persons.
Heimel also had asked the Court to force the county to stop registering voters until it held the hearing.
Heimel named Sharon Gregg, Oconee County Director of Elections and Registration, and Jay Hanley, Chair of the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration, as defendants.
The Feb. 18 Supreme Court order, signed by Therese S. Barnes, Supreme Court Clerk, said that the Court had met and agreed “that jurisdiction lies in this Court.”
Heimel was required to file an application for discretionary appeal, which she did not do, the order states, and “Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.”
Heimel has served as her own attorney throughout the legal challenge and hearings, which began with her request for the writ of mandamus on Sept. 4 of last year.
Appeal
Heimel filed her appeal with the Georgia Court of Appeals on Nov. 26 of Judge Lott’s Oct. 24 ruling dismissing Heimel’s case, arguing that Lott had “misinterpreted the law” and “did not give due process of the law to the Petitioner.”
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On Jan. 6, the Court of Appeals forwarded Heimel’s appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court on the ground that the Supreme Court had “exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all case of election contest.”
Heimel's legal action began after Cruz filed two separate challenges to the registration of voters, one consisting of 197 names and the other of 31. Heimel dates that filing as July 19 in her legal suit.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration, at its Aug. 6 meeting, dismissed the challenges of all but two of the names on the list of 31 and of all of the challenges on the list of 197, citing a lack of probable cause.
After holding a hearing on Aug. 15 on the two challenged voters from the list of 31 submitted by Cruz, the Board voted to remove both names from the list.
Heimel, in her Sept. 4 suit seeking a writ of mandamus, asked the Oconee County Superior Court to direct the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration to hold a hearing on all 228 of the voters whose registration had been challenged.
In her Oct. 24 ruling, Lott restrained the Board from proceeding with any additional challenges to voters and required the Board to restore any voters removed from the rolls after a hearing it held on additional challenges on Oct. 1.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration since has held off making any decisions on challenged voters pending the outcome of this and other suits underway in the state.
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