Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Announces Landmark Legal Victory in Curling v. Raffensperger

Atlanta - Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger today celebrated a decisive victory following the dismissal of Curling v. Raffensperger, one of the longest-running election lawsuits in Georgia history. The lawsuit, which spanned over seven years, was brought by voting machine skeptics who, despite all the evidence to the contrary, still attacked Georgia’s secure, auditable paper ballot voting system.

“Today’s ruling is just one more resounding vindication of Georgia’s elections,” said Secretary Raffensperger. “From day one, we knew these accusations were meritless. All the real-world evidence shows that Georgia’s paper ballot system works well. Our local election officials are professionals. And the voters of this state know that their votes are counted securely, accurately, and quickly.”

In a comprehensive order, the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims, ruling that the Coalition for Good Governance and other litigants failed to demonstrate any concrete, legal harm under Article III of the U.S. Constitution. The court emphasized that plaintiffs do not even claim that Georgia’s system prevents their votes from being accurately counted, and described their claims as “mere policy disagreements.”

Notably, the court denied the plaintiffs’ request for attorneys’ fees and further relief. This decision sends a clear message: baseless attacks on Georgia’s elections will not be rewarded.

Secretary Raffensperger reaffirmed his commitment to defending Georgia’s voting systems against unfounded attacks. “This case wasted time, resources, and energy that would have been better spent serving voters. Let this be a lesson: Georgia will always stand firm against those who seek to attack our elections or erode trust in democracy.”

Georgia’s voting system- featuring secure, watermarked paper ballots, mandatory audits, and optical scanners to ensure accuracy- remains a national model for security, accuracy, and transparency.

Today’s ruling underscores that reality.

###

Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 17 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record turnout in 2020, and 2022. 2022 achieved the largest single day of in-person early voting turnout in Georgia midterm history utilizing Georgia’s secure, paper ballot voting system. Most recently, Georgia ranked #2 for Election Integrity by the Heritage Foundation, a top ranking for Voter Accessibility by the Center for Election Innovation & Research and tied for number one in Election Administration by the Bipartisan Policy Center.