Georgia judge orders new election after losing candidate found dozens of people received incorrect ballot

Georgia State Rep. Dan Gasaway (left) is hoping for a new election after his primary loss to Chris Erwin in May. An unknown number of Habersham County residents received the wrong district ballot when they went to vote in the primary.

In northern Georgia, the race for a state House seat is back on after a judge ordered a brand-new election.

State Rep. Dan Gasaway was originally beaten by Chris Erwin in the Republican primary for the seat in May. But after Gasaway’s wife told him her co-worker wasn’t able to vote for him because his name wasn’t on her ballot, Gasaway became suspicious and investigated, WAGA-TV reported.

Eventually, Gasaway filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the election.

After hearing testimonies, Judge David Sweat ruled this week for a new election to take place in December. Only Erwin and Gasaway will be on the ballot in the Dec. 4 race in Banks, Habersham and Stephens Counties, Now Habersham reported.

“It’s the court’s view that a new election will have to be held so that people will have confidence in the results,” Sweat said.

During the trial, Habersham County Board of Elections Supervisor Laurel Ellison said her office discovered 70 Republicans voted in the wrong district in the election. Gasaway lost the May primary by 67 votes.

“This was the right ruling and this should encourage all citizens to know that people are looking out for their system,” Gasaway told Now Habersham. “I didn’t do this just for me … but if votes aren’t counted right, that should concern everybody in our country and everybody in our state and everybody in our counties.”

Erwin said he thought his team “proved our case” to the judge and is deciding whether to appeal the decision. He said he was surprised by the decision.

“We felt we were in the right from the beginning with the information given to us,” he told the newspaper.

Gasaway and Erwin are the only two people running for the state House seat.