SUPREME COURT OF ATLASIA
J. K. SESTAK, Petitioner
v.
PEEBS, Acting Secretary of Federal Elections
I. Facts of the case.
Petitioner is a citizen of Atlasia in good standing. Petitioner sought election to the Senate in the at-large election scheduled between 22 and 25 April, 2022. Petitioner, at time of election, had accrued 11,859 posts and over 39,649 hours of account age on the forum, well above the constitutional limits of 200 posts and 1,440 hours. Petitioner sought election as a write-in candidate.
Respondent, in her capacity as Acting Secretary of Federal Elections and acting under the role of "administrator of the voting booth" in §5.1 of the Federal Electoral Act (F.L. 21-16 with subsequent amendments), certified the election on 29 April 2022. Respondent accepted Petitioner as a valid write-in candidate. Respondent certfied a result in which Petitioner recieved ten votes on the first-round count, and in which Petitioner was eliminated from election in the final round by a margin of less than two votes.
Petitioner seeks relief in the form of the voiding of the 29th April certification and mandamus to the federal electoral authority to re-certify with two votes, which were incorrectly counted for candidates other than Petitioner in the afforementioned certifications, instead being counted for Petitioner.
II. Standing.
Petitioner is a candidate seeking election. Petitioner was initially certified as not having been elected. Had the two votes in question been counted correctly, Petitioner would have been certified as elected. Thus, Petitioner has demonstrated harm caused directly by the illegal actions of Respondent.
As previously mentioned, the election was certified on 29 April 2022 at 12:38 AM Atlas time. The Federal Electoral Act states the following:
Lawsuits challenging the validity of certified election results shall only be valid if filed within one hundred and sixty-eight hours (seven days) of certification, unless the certification results in a runoff election, in which case such lawsuits shall only be valid if filed prior to the scheduled commencement of the runoff.
It is currently 4 May 2022, approximately 2:45 PM Atlas time; less thanone hundred and thirty-five hours following certification. Thus this suit is not invalid by the statute of limitations.
III. The certification.
The certification is given by the document linked in the following post:
I don't know if I have the right to certify an election I didn't start, but if I do:
Link here.
The document can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M_8MhYumXj_YssnAPVx3bOqPjTwXVipZ/view?usp=sharing.
Respondent confirmed that this document is their certification of the election:
I don't know if I have the right to certify an election I didn't start, but if I do:
Link here.
Just to be clear; the image here is gone. Is there still a valid certification - and if yes, is the table in the linked document the certification?
.
The certification lists the final first round total for petitioner (under username 'jk2020' and colloquial name 'Sestak') as ten votes. The certification also lists each vote individually, with the following ten voters being listed as having Petitioner as their first preference:
Adam Griffin, Alcibiades, AverageFoodEnthusiast, Bacon King, Devout Centrist, HCP, jamespol, jk2020, nclib, Virginia
The certification lists the final first round total for candidate Adam Griffin (henceforth "Griffin" or "Mr. Griffin") as sixteen votes. The individual counts list for Mr. Griffin the votes of voters ProudModerate2, TimTurner, and the following fourteen voters:
Blair2015, BRTD, Gass3268, ilikeverin, JGibson, MikeWells12, morgieb, Pericles, tack50, texasgurl, Thumb21, vivaportugalhabs, windjammer, YE
IV. The contested ballots.
Petitioner contests the counting of the votes of ProudModerate2 and TimTurner as being counted for Mr. Griffin as opposed to for Petitioner.
The ballot of ProudModerate2:
FOR SENATE AT-LARGE
NINE (9) to be elected.
[1] Write-in: Sestak
Old Labor Party
[2] Adam Griffin
Old Labor Party
[3] OneJ of Illinois
Labor Party
[4] S019 of New Jersey
Labor Party
[5] Blairite of California
Labor Party
[6] Weatherboy1102 of South Carolina
Democratic Alliance
[7] Ishan of Northern Ireland
Liberal Party
The ballot of TimTurner:
[1] WI: Sestak
[2] Adam Griffin
[3] OneJ
[4] Blairite
[5] S019
[6] MB
[7] Weatherboy1102
[8] Ishan
[9] WI: If I had more time on my hands I'd preference every candidate
V. The ballots should be counted for Petitioner.
Both ballots explicitly listed "Write-in: Sestak" (or the abbreviated "WI: Sestak") as their first choice vote, being listed with a "[1]" and above all of their other preferences. "Sestak" was Petitioner's screen name throughout the time of the election and has also been the name Petitioner has gone by within Atlasia since their initial registration in January of 2018. In addition, Respondent's own certification document lists "Sestak" as Petitioner's "colloquial name" and uses it in place of petitioner's official username, "jk2020", in the individual vote breakdown on the spreadsheet. There is no other candidate or potential candidate who goes by the name "Sestak", and the ballot of TimTurner additionally lists their vote as being "Sestak - Old Labor Party", which was Petitioner's accurate party registration at the time of the election.
Respondent has already accepted Petitioner as a valid write-in candidate, and has counted several other ballots listed for "Sestak" for Petitioner. It follows that these ballots clearly listing Petitioner as their first choice should be counted for petitioner.
VI. Petition for Summary Judgement.
At present, this election was held for a term scheduled to begin less than 48 hours after the filing of this petition. In addition, there are no legitimate arguments for the votes in question to be counted as they currently are. I ask this Court to grant summary judgement in Petitioner's favor so that an accurate certification can be made prior to the scheduled start of term.
J.K. Sestak, counsel pro se
