ATLANTA (AP) – A federal judge has dismissed motions to dismiss eight lawsuits against Georgia’s comprehensive new electoral law.
Georgia’s law is one of many approved by Republican-led lawmakers after former President Donald Trump and his allies made unsubstantiated claims that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election. Democrats, constituencies and other critics say it violates the rights of voters and will disproportionately deprive black people of the right to vote.
State officials deny this criticism, saying Georgia’s electoral laws are sensible, non-discriminatory and consistent with electoral laws across the country.
The first lawsuit against SB 202 was filed the same day Governor Brian Kemp signed it. Others soon followed, including one brought in by the US Department of Justice. The named civil servants, as well as Republican groups who joined the charges as defendants, made dismissals.
However, U.S. District Judge JP Boulee on Thursday issued orders allowing all eight trials to continue, saying he can consolidate them, at least for investigative purposes, as they are mostly about the same defendants, facts and legal issues.
Boulee, a Trump-appointed employee, dismissed arguments that the plaintiffs had no right to sue, stated no particular harm, or justified the remedy they sought.
“This is a big step in our fight to protect voting rights for Georgians and voters across the country,” Marc Elias said in an email. The prominent Democratic attorney filed the first lawsuit in Georgia and is calling for GOP-supported electoral laws in other states.
Most lawsuits allege that the new law discriminates against voters in violation of the Suffrage Act by imposing new postal voting identification requirements, shortening the deadline for requesting postal votes, restricting the availability of postal voting boxes, and the use of provisional ballot papers for voters appearing in the wrong constituency, including a ban on giving food and water to queues before the election. One lawsuit contests a new process for the state election committee to dismiss county election officials and other provisions that violate the right to freedom of expression.
“Georgia’s anti-voter law makes it harder to vote for people of color and disabled people of Georgia, and we look forward to continuing to challenge this law in court,” said Rahul Garabadu, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, via e- Mail.
State officials promised to keep fighting.
“We look forward to continuing to vigorously defend Georgia electoral law,” Kara Richardson, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Chris Carr, said in an email.