November 19: Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) request to halt certification was Denied as plaintiff Wood lacks standing and his constitutional rights arguments fail.
December 5: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the denial of Wood's motion for emergency relief.
Emergency petition for extraordinary writ of mandamus filed in the United States Supreme Court on December 11, 2020, voluntarily dismissed on January 19, 2021.
Superior Court Judge James F. Bass Jr.[2] denied the request and dismissed the suit on November 5, after hearing testimony from the chairman of the Chatham County Board of Registrars.
[5] On November 11, 2020, four voters in Georgia sued Thomas Mahoney, Chairman of the Chatham County Board of Elections, in federal district court.
The voters claimed a software glitch caused a miscounting of votes, and asked the court to stop certain counties from certifying their presidential election results.
[43] The Trump-appointed judge concluded that there was "no basis in fact or in law" to stop Georgia's certification of its election results (in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump) at such a late stage, as this would "breed confusion and potential disenfranchisement".
[47] On November 25, 2020, a group of voters led by teenage conservative activist CJ Pearson sued Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, and other state officials.
The plaintiffs alleged that Dominion was used to rig votes for Joe Biden, and asked the court to stop the certification of elections results and order Governor Kemp to certify President Donald Trump as the winner in Georgia.
[15][16][48][49][50] The evidence included an affidavit from QAnon activist Ron Watkins, who stated, based his reading of an online user guide for Dominion Voting Systems software, that election fraud might be "within the realm of possibility".
[68] The plaintiffs alleged multiple violations of Georgia's election code and state constitution,[69] and claimed thousands of illegitimate votes were cast.
[74] "Rather than presenting their evidence and witnesses to a court and to cross-examination under oath, the Trump campaign wisely decided the smartest course was to dismiss their frivolous cases," Raffensperger said.
All defendants are charged with one count of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, and the defendants are also variously charged with forty additional counts from other allegations, including: Trump and co-defendants plotted to create pro-Trump slates of fake electors; Trump called the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, asking him to "find 11,780 votes", which would have reversed his loss in the state by a single vote margin; and a small group of Trump allies in Coffee County, Georgia illegally accessed voting systems attempting to find evidence of election fraud.
[37][76] A grand jury handed up the indictments on August 14, 2023, following an investigation launched in February 2021 by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.
Another judge denied requests from former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Department of Justice (DOJ) official Jeffrey Clark, and three other defendants to have their cases removed to federal court.