Photo by Beau Evans
ATLANTA — Voting rights groups are going to federal court to block part of a law the General Assembly passed two years ago that bans volunteers from delivering food and water to voters waiting in long lines before the election.
Groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia are seeking an injunction as part of a broader lawsuit challenging changes to the state election law by Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers that pushed the General Assembly along party lines have.
Senate Bill 202 requires voters wishing to cast absentee ballots to provide photo ID, a requirement that was already in place for voting in person. The law also limits the number of mail-in ballot boxes and prohibits non-poll workers from serving food and drink within 150 feet of waiting voters.
“There can be no reason to deny food or water to people in busy polling stations other than to try to prevent them from exercising their right to vote,” Poy Winichakul, senior voting rights advocate at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Monday. “These electoral barriers must be removed so that all Georgians can have a voice to speak up for their communities in the crucial 2024 elections.”
“Previously, our customers could offer a bottle of water or a snack to voters waiting in long lines before the election,” added Rahul Garabadu, senior voting rights advocate for the ACLU of Georgia. “We are now asking the court to overturn the unlawful provisions of the ban so that our clients can provide vital support to voters in our state.”
Proponents of the bill justified the ban on non-election workers from serving food and drink to voters waiting in line at polling stations to prevent campaign volunteers from trying to influence voters in an area where campaigning is prohibited by law.
Civil rights groups tried to block the ban on line relief ahead of last year’s election. But a federal judge rejected the request last August, arguing that changing electoral laws just before an election would confuse voters.
However, the ruling applied only to last year’s election, leaving the door open to opponents of the law to seek judicial relief ahead of next year’s vote.
