This procedure has been in place for at least three elections since March, including the general election on November 3, 2020. Over one million Georgians voted by absentee ballot in the general election. No one challenged the settlement agreement until the filing of this action. By then, the general election returns had been tallied and a statewide hand recount of the presidential election results was underway.
On November 13, L. Lin Wood Jr. sued Secretary Raffensperger and the members of the Board in the district court. Wood alleged that he sued “in his capacity as a private citizen.” He is a registered voter in Fulton County, Georgia, and a donor to various 2020 Republican candidates. His amended complaint alleged that the settlement agreement violates state law. As a result, he contends, it violates the Election Clause of Article I; the Electors Clause of Article II; and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1; id. art. II, § 1, cl. 2; id. amend. XIV, § 1. Wood also alleged that irregularities in the hand recount violated his rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. amend. XIV, § 1.
State law requires that such recounts be done in public view, and it permits the Board to promulgate policies that facilitate recounting. Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-498(c)(4), (d). Secretary Raffensperger directed county election officials to designate viewing areas for members of the public and the news media to observe
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