12/29/20
A federal judge on Monday halted challenges to the eligibility of over 4,000 Georgia voters, ruling that they must be allowed to cast regular ballots in the U.S. Senate runoff election. U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner granted a restraining order that prevents election officials in Muscogee and Ben Hill counties from invalidating voters as early voting is underway. The ruling from Gardner, the sister of Democrat Stacey Abrams, comes in response to an attempt by the Texas-based organization True the Vote and the Georgia Republican Party to challenge more than 364,000 voters. Most county election boards across Georgia have rejected the challenges, but Muscogee and Ben Hill counties had required those voters to cast provisional ballots that would have been counted only after further review. Gardner ruled that the voter challenges violated federal laws protecting voting rights.
Systemic removals of voters are barred within 90 days of a federal election, according to the National Voter Registration Act. Voters can’t be removed until they’ve been notified and then don’t vote in two federal election cycles. Gardner ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, ]Majority Forward, a nonprofit organization that supports voter registration efforts represented by Democratic Party attorney Marc Elias. “Republicans tried to disenfranchise over 300,000 Georgia voters. This victory means 4,000 voters in two counties are protected,” Elias wrote on Twitter. “We continue to monitor how other Georgia counties respond to the suppression scheme. Where necessary, we will sue and we will win.” The largest remaining challenge to Georgia voter eligibility is pending in Forsyth County, where the elections board found probable cause to contest the residency of over 5,000 voters based on a request by state Rep. Marc Morris, a Republican from Cumming.
www.politico.com
