Former House District 28 State Representative Chris Erwin is appealing a judge’s order that removed him from office.
Erwin’s attorney Bryan Tyson filed the appeal Monday in Banks County Superior Court.
Erwin was forced to leave office last week after Judge David Sweat voided the results of the Dec. 4, 2018 Republican special primary election. The judge threw out the results based on evidence that showed four illegal votes were cast in Habersham County. The number of illegal votes exceeded Erwin’s two-vote margin of victory.
“We filed an appeal and believe the Supreme Court needs to look at this case,” Erwin tells Now Habersham. “We are pursuing all of our appellate rights.”
According to the notice of appeal filed by Tyson, the state’s high court has “exclusive appellate jurisdiction” over appeals in contested elections.
Erwin is one of four defendants named in a lawsuit filed by former Rep. Dan Gasaway challenging the Dec. 4 election results. The three other defendants are the election boards of Habersham, Banks, and Stephens counties. Sources say those defendants are now considering whether to join in Erwin’s appeal.
Judge Sweat ordered a new election for April 9. Despite the ongoing court challenge, Erwin says he’s “running again full steam ahead for a third straight victory.” He adds, “We will continue to fight for our community’s right to representation.”
Who really won?
Gasaway argues it is he, and not Erwin, who won the last two elections.
He contested the elections because there was evidence of voting errors. Twice he proved his case in court.
The first time, Senior Superior Court Judge David Sweat ruled 74 votes were either illegally cast or wrongly rejected in Habersham County’s May 22, 2018 Republican primary. The second time, Judge Sweat ruled four votes were illegally cast in the Dec. 4 election redo in Habersham County. Those numbers exceeded Erwin’s margin of victory both times.
Since the judge can not alter election results, the only legal recourse has been for him to order new elections.
Before leaving office on Friday, Erwin reached out to constituents through social media. He called his removal from office and the resulting lack of representation for the district “a travesty.”
“Unfortunately, for the taxpayers of the 28th District, Dan Gasaway has put his political career ambitions over what’s best for our community and the State of Georgia,” Erwin posted.
Gasaway counters Erwin is the one putting political ambitions ahead of constituents.
“Mr. Erwin feigns great concern for the people of the 28th District. But if he was that concerned about the people, he would have conceded the first illegal election before the 4th of July, instead of dragging it out to the end of September,” says Gasaway. “Most recently, Mr. Erwin fought to uphold another illegal election, which he should have acknowledged as wrong back before Christmas. Instead, he listened to his Gainesville handlers, fought to uphold two illegal elections, and here we are at Valentine’s Day.”
Backlash and backbone
Gasaway has received backlash from voters upset over his decision to contest the elections. Many have publicly voiced their concern over how much the election redos are costing taxpayers. Fewer have publicly voiced concern over the election errors that were uncovered in Habersham County as a result of those lawsuits.
A recent online opinion poll by Now Habersham shows 61% of respondents say they’re not concerned about voting errors in Habersham County. While those results may include the opinions of voters outside the county and district, the immediate takeaway is that this is a legal fight many people don’t seem to care about.
Still, Gasaway is not backing down. He and his legal team insist they’re voting to restore faith and fairness in the electoral process. And, in the course of doing that, yes, Gasaway is fighting to regain his seat in the State House.
“If Mr. Erwin is really that concerned about the people in the 28thDistrict, he should withdraw his candidacy and concede that I won the December 4 election. We proved without a doubt that at least 3 people who were very public supporters of Mr. Erwin voted illegally. Without those 3 votes, I win the election. It’s simple math. Sounds like to me and anyone interested in legal elections, that it’s Mr. Erwin’s political career ambitions that are hurting the people of the 28th District.”
