Democracy docket: Georgia voter suppression law challenged by New Georgia Project

The leading election lawyers at Perkins Coie, led by Marc Elias, filed suit yesterday in Atlanta against Georgia election officials.  Their target in the federal action is the new Georgia voter-suppression law enacted by the Republican controlled state.  - GWC

New Georgia Project v. Raffensperger- Complaint FINAL

Despite nationwide scrutiny of Georgia’s elections, which only confirmed the absence of any fraud, insecurity, or wrongdoing, Republican members of the General Assembly voted to pass sweeping omnibus legislation  that is clearly intended to and will have the effect of making it harder for lawful Georgia voters to participate in the State’s elections. And it will impose these unjustifiable burdens disproportionately on the State’s minority, young, poor, and disabled citizens. Among its provisions, the Voter Suppression Bill: 

 Imposes unnecessary and burdensome new identification requirements for absentee voting; 

 Unduly restricts the use of absentee drop boxes; 

 Bans mobile polling places; 

 Prohibits the state from distributing unsolicited absentee ballot applications; 

 Prohibits third-parties—including voter engagement organizations— from collecting absentee ballot applications; 

 Burdens voters with the risk of disenfranchisement due to meritless challenges that require an immediate defense of their qualifications; 

 Invalidates ballots cast by lawful voters before 5:00 p.m. in a precinct other than the one to which they were assigned, regardless of the reason or their ability to travel to another location (or wait until after 5:00 p.m.) to cast their ballot;

 Bans any non-poll worker from giving food or drink, including water, to voters waiting in line; 

 Compresses the time period for voting in the runoff election.  

These provisions lack any justification for their burdensome and discriminatory effects on voting. Instead, they represent a hodgepodge of unnecessary restrictions that target almost every aspect of the voting process but serve no legitimate purpose or compelling state interest other than to make absentee, early, and election-day voting more difficult—especially for minority voters...