A federal judge in Georgia this week refused to temporarily block the state’s controversial voting rules, which several voting rights and civil rights organisations say will disenfranchise black voters in the 2024 election.
US District Court Judge. J.P. Boulee ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice and voting rights groups failed to support their claims that Republican lawmakers intentionally discriminated against black voters in 2021 by signing into law new ID requirements for absentee ballots, adding restrictions on absentee drop boxes, shortening the deadline for requesting absentee ballots and increasing criminal penalties for handing out refreshments to voters standing in line.
Boulee wrote in a 62-page ruling that the plaintiff’s expert witnesses and other evidence did not warrant a court-ordered injunction.
“This court cannot find that plaintiffs have presented sufficient evidence to show that the Legislature foresaw or knew that SB 202 would have a disparate impact on minority voters,” he wrote.
Barring an imminent reversal of Boulee’s ruling, the rules created by state lawmakers in the sweeping 2021 election law will remain in place for the 2024 election cycle.
The plaintiffs in Kemp v. Sixth District of the American Methodist Episcopal Church are Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, the Georgia Advocacy Office, which works on behalf of people with disabilities, and several other organisations. They allege that GOP state officials have created rules designed to make it harder for black voters, people with disabilities and other marginalised groups to cast their ballots.
The motion for a preliminary injunction was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Department of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Defense Fund.
The case is a consolidation of several election lawsuits filed after Georgia Republican lawmakers passed SB 202 in March 2021. Following the disputed 2020 presidential election, several unsuccessful lawsuits were filed by Donald Trump supporters alleging widespread fraud, with claims ranging from illegal ballot stuffing to rigged electronic voting machines as the reason for Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s nearly 12,000-vote victory in Georgia.
The coalition of plaintiffs alleges that the state’s restrictions on absentee voting, so-called line-warming, and provisional ballots violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which protects voters from discrimination on the basis of race and colour.
Alaizah Koorji, associate counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, said in response to Boulee’s ruling that black voters will continue to face obstacles because of provisions “designed to dilute black political power.
“This was a preliminary ruling by the court, and we will continue to challenge voter suppression to ensure that Georgia’s voting laws comply with the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution,” Koorji said.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the court’s denial of the preliminary injunction indicates that the DOJ is unlikely to prove in court that the new voting law is discriminatory.
Raffensperger has promoted the new ID requirements as an objective way to make elections more secure. And the earlier deadline for requesting absentee ballots will prevent more Georgians from receiving their ballots after Election Day, he said.
“The court has affirmed what we’ve been saying all along,” he said. “SB 202 strengthens election integrity while increasing the opportunity for Georgia voters to cast a ballot.”
New rules to take effect after 2020 election
With the 2020 election cycle coinciding with a pandemic public health emergency, state election officials approved an emergency rule to make absentee ballot drop boxes available to voters.
At the time, local election officials were allowed to determine the number of drop boxes that could be accessed 24 hours a day, as long as they were kept in secure containers and monitored by video surveillance.
The 2001 revision of the Electoral Act requires each county to provide at least one drop box for elections, but also limits the maximum number of boxes and restricts access indoors during early voting hours.
The method for determining voter eligibility on absentee ballots under SB 202 replaced the signature verification process with a requirement that voters provide their driver’s licence or other state ID number. The law also shortened the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot from the Friday before Election Day to 11 days before.
The plaintiffs claim that the practice of volunteers handing out food and water to voters caught the attention of Republicans after it became a popular method of voter engagement in black communities during the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Republicans sought to impose restrictions on absentee voting after a surge in absentee voting by black voters in the 2018 and 2020 elections, the plaintiffs allege in their lawsuit.
During a September 26 hearing in federal court in Atlanta, Democratic state Sen. Harold Jones of Augusta testified about a rushed 2021 legislative session in which nearly 50 voting bills culminated in the 90-plus page SB 202, which was introduced with only five days left to pass.
In Wednesday’s court order, Boulee references the late Republican House Speaker David Ralston’s warning in 2020 that sending absentee ballot applications to every registered voter would hurt conservative chances.
Boulee also wrote that Democratic lawmakers were in favour of several provisions in SB 202 that require more poll workers and voting equipment to be made available if a line builds up at a polling place. Hours-long lines at several Georgia polling places caused voters in many precincts to wait well past the standard 7 p.m. closing time to cast a ballot.
“The court is not persuaded that plaintiffs have shown that the legislature failed to consider alternatives that would mitigate any potential discriminatory impact,” the judge said. “Indeed, the evidence before the court suggests that, at least with respect to other parts of SB 202, alternatives were considered and even implemented.