'Georgians deserve secure elections': Trump Administration to drop suit over election law
While there is no election going on, Georgia voting is back under the national spotlight.
On Monday, the Department of Justice issued a news release detailing how they had been directed to dismiss a lawsuit from last year about a 2021 Georgia elections law. Here's what we know:
SB 202 a.k.a. the "Election Integrity Act of 2021" was signed into law following the 2020 presidential election which many Republicans have called into question. The law placed new restrictions on early and absentee voting, imposed stricter ID verification requirements on mail-in ballots, and shortened the window of time in which voters could request absentee ballots be sent to them.
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The law also capped the number of absentee ballot drop boxes to one per 100,000 residents, and removed a pandemic-era provision that allowed voters to access drop boxes outside of regular business hours. It also restricts third-party organizations from distributing absentee ballot applications and imposes a $100 penalty for each duplicate absentee ballot application sent to voters in Georgia.
The chief sponsor of the Election Integrity Act was Georgia Sen. Max Burns with its sponsor in the Georgia House being Barry Fleming. The law also had more than 20 other sponsors.
On Jan. 31, 2024, the DOJ, under President Joe Biden, filed a consolidated lawsuit called "In Re Georgia SB 202." The argument was that it intended to disenfranchise Black voters and failed to provide people with disabilities an equal opportunity to vote.
"Rather than celebrating Georgians' record-breaking turnout and success in conducting two secure elections in a span of two months, the Georgia General Assembly instead enacted Senate Bill 202 ... through a secretive and extremely accelerated legislative process, with little to no opportunity for public input or review," the lawsuit noted. "SB 202 directly and severely burdens Plaintiffs' core political speech, which includes communications and expressive activities aimed at encouraging voters to participate in the political process through absentee voting."
In the news release, Trump Administration officials said the Biden administration "fabricated an untrue narrative" around Georgia's election law and said officials at the time were "demonizing Georgians for political gain and triggering boycotts."
"Georgians deserve secure elections, not fabricated claims of false voter suppression meant to divide us," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "Americans can be confident that this Department of Justice will protect their vote and never play politics with election integrity."
Gov. Brian Kemp said via X, "Despite the lies and misinformation from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, and their allies, Georgia is one of the top states in the country for early voting and experienced record voter turnout in multiple elections since the passage of the Elections Integrity Act. I am grateful that under the leadership of [Attorney General Pamela Bondi] and [President Donald Trump], the DOJ has followed the truth: in Georgia, it is easy to vote and hard to cheat."
Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda Executive Director Helen Butler expressed her disappointment, saying the law does suppress votes and plans to pursue their own legal challenge.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said "This reaffirms that the Election Integrity Act stands on solid legal ground....Our commitment has always been to ensure fair and secure elections for every Georgian, despite losing an All-Star game and the left's boycott of Georgia as a result of commonsense election law."
April England-Albright, national legal director for Black Voters Matter, said "Just as Black people have historically stood firm against a weaponized and radicalized Department of Justice and continued to fight back to increase political and economic rights in this country....Our response to this and other harmful and egregious decisions from Trump's DOJ will be no different, and we will win."
Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on X and Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: DOJ to drop Biden-era lawsuit over Georgia election law
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