An additional motion filed by Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux asking her to reconsider part of her ruling has been denied by a federal judge.
The original ruling handed down by Judge Leigh Martin May granted a temporary restraining order requiring Gwinnett County to accept absentee ballots where applicants had an error or omitted their birth date.
However, Bourdeaux's campaign said the judge denied the campaign’s request to immediately require Gwinnett County count ballots with address issues or missing signatures.
On Thursday, the request to have that portion of the ruling reconsidered was also denied. In the latest order, the judge reiterated previous finding that Bourdeaux and company "failed to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits regarding their claims that rejecting an absentee ballot due to a missing signature, incorrect address, or other clerical error violates the Civil Rights act because Plaintiff-Intervenors offered only conclusory statements and no supporting authority for their arguments."
Judge May found that their request didn't meet the requirements for reconsideration under local rules of the court.
Bourdeaux is running against the incumbent, Rob Woodall, for Georgia's District 7 congressional seat. The district is comprised of parts of Gwinnett and Forsyth counties.
In the new motion, the campaign alleges the two counties have different rules when it comes to accepting absentee ballots.
"The Forsyth County Election Administrator has confirmed that it does not reject absentee ballots based solely on missing information on the Ballot return envelope such as address or date/year of birth. If the signature on the oath matches the signature on the voter registration records we have the ballot is accepted,'' the motion reads.
They also said Forsyth County election officials alert voters by telephone about signatures missing from their absentee ballot
"Plaintiff-Intervenors know of no efforts in Gwinnett County to do more than mail voters notice if an absentee ballot is slated for rejection before election day, leaving voters at risk of receiving notice too late," the motion said.
The race between Woodall and Bourdeax is a close one. As of Thursday, only 533 votes separated the two candidates.
The Secretary of State's website shows Woodall leading with 50.1 percent of the votes, which equals to 140,279 votes.
Bourdeaux is not far behind with 139,746 votes, which comes out to be 49.9 percent.
“We are asking the judge to treat all voters in the 7th district equally,” said Bourdeaux spokesman Jake Best. “A voter in Gwinnett should receive the same treatment as a voter in Forsyth. Right now, Gwinnett County can verify a voter’s eligibility, mail them a ballot through the federal mail, and then throw that ballot in the trash if the voter doesn’t perfectly write down their address. We are asking for a fair and equal system that counts the ballot of every eligible voter.”
