Megan Varner/Reuters/FILE
Voters queue at the Metropolitan Library to cast their ballots in the Senate runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican nominee Herschel Walker in Atlanta, Georgia, November 29, 2022. REUTERS/Megan Varner
CNN
—
A federal judge on Friday restricted a section of Georgia’s election law that bans the distribution of food and water to voters who are waiting in line to cast their ballots.
However, U.S. District Judge JP Boulee denied requests by legal challengers to the state’s 2021 Election Reform Act that he should block aspects of the law that restricted who could cast a ballot by mail on behalf of another voter and that placed restrictions on the location of ballot boxes could be set up.
His “line-warming” ruling enabled the ban to be enforced in what he called the “buffer zone” around a polling station, within 150 feet of the building where ballots are cast. However, he paused enforcement of the ban in the “supplement zone,” or additional areas less than 25 feet from a voter waiting in line.
“Critical to this conclusion was the fact that, unlike the buffer zone’s reasonable 150-foot radius, the supplemental zone has no boundary,” he wrote. “SB 202 prohibits organizations (such as plaintiffs) from participating in line relief operations in the supplementary zone, i.
In his ruling on the outer cover date of birth requirement, Boulee wrote that supporters of the provision “have presented no evidence that absentee ballots rejected for failing to meet the date of birth requirement were fraudulent ballots.”
“Given the evidence presented, the court is simply not satisfied that removing the date of birth requirement poses a risk of fraudulent ballots or jeopardizes election integrity,” he said.
In 2021, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Election Integrity Act into law, making it illegal to give food or water to people waiting in line, among other controversial provisions.
Republican supporters defended the measure, arguing that it was necessary to boost confidence in the state’s voters’ vote. However, his critics condemned the line-warming provision as an attempt to restrict voting that could target people of color who are pro-Democratic and whose constituencies often have long waiting times for voting.
In response, several civil rights and voting rights groups filed lawsuits challenging the law.
Rahul Garabadu, senior voting rights attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, hailed the judge’s decision as “an important victory for every eligible voter in Georgia.”
“The court recognized that voters should not be disenfranchised for forgetting to write their date of birth on their envelope and should not be arrested for waiting outside the 150-foot zone to voters in the queue Polling stations offered food or drinks,” Garabadu said in a statement. “The fight against SB 202 continues, but today’s decisions represent an important victory for every eligible voter in Georgia.”
Georgian Foreign Minister Brad Raffensperger said in a statement that the decision “is likely to have limited effect”.
“Due to the good job that both state and county election officials have done to ensure short queues for voters, this decision should have limited impact,” he said. “I am grateful that the ban on giving anything of value to voters within 150 feet of the polling station remains in place. All voters should have the right to cast their vote in peace, without being exposed to potentially unwanted solicitations.”
