As Georgia continues to introduce legislation having to do with hard-line restrictions on voting, the DOJ files complaint.
Coming off one of the most controversial presidential elections in history, the Department of Justice under Biden’s new regime is suing the state of Georgia over their new election and voting laws.
According to the official complaint filed on Friday by the Justice Department, Georgia Senate Bill 202(2021) disenfranchises minority voters, specifically Black voters. Turning the state blue for the first time in several presidential elections, the state’s voter turnout was historically large among minorities. A majority of those voters were assumed to have sided with the Democratic party.
Bill 202 is Republican-led.
On Tuesday, 50 GOP senators blocked the largest voting rights legislation to come before congress in years. This legislation was to counter voter suppression in several states — including Georgia.
According to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, “The rights of all eligible citizens to vote are the central pillars of our democracy.” In a news conference at the Justice Department, he added, “They are the rights from which all other rights ultimately flow.”
Georgia has been at the center of voter suppression since the 2018 election for governor — the election that launched Stacy Abrams into the political stratosphere. Though she lost, it created the discussion for voter suppression.
When Trump lost to Biden in Georgia by a narrow 11,000 votes, he chose Georgia as the basis of his request to overturn the election results.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, called the lawsuit by the DOJ, disgusting. At a news conference on Friday, he said, “The D.O.J. lawsuit announced today is legally and constitutionally dead wrong.”
According to Georgia’s voting law, there are specific provisions put into place that disproportionately effect Black voters.
Voters now have less time to request absentee ballots, there are strict ID requirements, and it is now illegal to mail out absentee ballot applications to all voters.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, over 272,000 registered voters do not have a driver’s license or state ID on file with election officials. This, according to Georgia’s new voting law means that those registered voters will need to submit additional documents in order to vote by mail.
“The ID requirements disproportionately affect Black voters, who are much less likely than white voters to have ID numbers matched to their voter registrations, according to election data,” — AJC.
A lot of the more practical voting practices that were put into place during the 2020 presidential election are now illegal. Drop boxes have been discontinued with and mobile voting centers being banned. Further, offering food or water to voters in line at polling places could be considered a misdemeanor.