The Catoosa County, Georgia Republican Party tried to exclude certain candidates for county partisan office from its 2024 primary, because the county party officials felt the candidates were not bona fide Republicans. The county party also tried to place some questions on its primary ballot after a state court put the candidates on the primary ballot. The questions on the ballot were to be “1. Do you think anti-Trump Democrats should be able to get a court order to force the elections board to qualify them as Republican candidates for office? 2. Did you know that Steven Henry, Vanita Hullander, Jeff Long, and Larry Black were not approved to run as Republicans by the Republican Party?”

The County Election Board refused to place these two questions on the party’s primary ballot. It said the Georgia law against electioneering at the polls would prohibit these questsions. The County Republican Party sued in federal court to get those questions on its ballot, but U.S. District Court Judge William Ray ruled against the county party on September 9, 2024.

The county party appealed to the Eleventh Circuit, and the case is still pending. It is Catoosa County Republican Party v Catoosa County Board of Elecdtions, 24-12936. The party argues that it should have been able to exclude the candidates, and furthermore that it should have been permitted to have its questions on the primary ballot.