After ending her campaign in debt, failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’ financial problems continue to grow. A federal judge ruled that her group Fair Fight Action must pay hundreds of thousands in legal fees after losing its voter suppression lawsuit.
The organization sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2018 to "hold Georgia accountable for an elections system that violates various right of Georgia voters under federal law," but now that the judge has ruled against the group, it must pay $231,303.71 in legal fees.
The costs include nearly $193,000 for trial and deposition transcripts and over $38,000 for copies of thousands of exhibits the state used in the four-year case that started after Democrat Stacey Abrams’ loss to Republican Brian Kemp in the 2018 race for governor. [...]
Overall, the cost to taxpayers in defending the lawsuit in federal court was nearly $6 million, according to the attorney general’s office.
But only $231,000 of that amount was recovered from the plaintiffs through the court’s order. Attorney fees for the government’s lawyers won’t be repaid. (AJC)
"This is a win for taxpayers and voters who knew all along that Stacey Abrams voter suppression claims were false, it has never been easier to vote and harder to cheat in the state of Georgia," Raffensperger said in a statement. "This is a start, but I think Stacey Abrams should pay back the millions of taxpayer dollars the state was forced to spend to disprove her false claims."
The news comes after she ended her campaign with more than $1 million in debt to vendors.
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