Federal Court Stops GOP Attempt To Fast-Track Voter Suppression Law

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The 2020 election convinced Republicans that expanding voter access loses their party important elections, so in the name of “voter integrity,” they vowed to fight back against all 16 cases of voter fraud found in the election. Despite decades of proof that voter fraud is not a frequent, nor even significant, occurrence, the GOP has seen fit to push every voter suppression effort they can find to stop Americans, particularly black and brown Americans, from voting.

Georgia is the perfect example of what the GOP is fighting against. An historically ruby red state, Georgia went to President Biden in 2020 with a slim majority. Additionally, two Democratic senators replaced two Republican ones, making the state a sweep for Democrats in high-profile elections. Georgia’s population has increased in recent years with a high proportion of black residents. The GOP’s only hope is to stop people of color from voting entirely. Hence, eight separate lawsuits pushing back against the Republican Party’s racist voter suppression policies, each of which the GOP has tried to stop in the courts.

According to Democracy Docket:

‘Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia rejected various attempts to dismiss eight lawsuits challenging Georgia’s new voter suppression law, Senate Bill 202. Following the passage of S.B. 202 in March 2021, a flurry of lawsuits were filed by various voting and civil rights groups, individual voters and the U.S. Department of Justice challenging the bill.’

In October, the Spalding County Board of Elections in Georgia underwent a restructuring thanks to gerrymandered maps rearranging voting districts. As a result, three black women on the board have been ousted, giving Republicans a majority, and the black elections supervisor was sent packing, as well.

Reuters reports that:

‘The unusual rash of restructurings follows the state’s passage of Senate Bill 202, which restricted ballot access statewide and allowed the Republican-controlled State Election Board to assume control of county boards it deems underperforming. The board immediately launched a performance review of the Democratic-leaning Fulton County board, which oversees part of Atlanta.’

In addition to gerrymandering, the GOP is also attempting to change the rules of the election in an obvious move to limit black votes. For instance, black voters turn out in large numbers for Sunday voting thanks to the efforts by black churches to get out the vote called “Souls to the Polls.” The GOP, of course, has moved to end Sunday voting, drawing another lawsuit by advocacy groups and voters in Georgia. That case will also go forward.

According to Salon:

‘The new Georgia law, SB 202, requires absentee ballot applications to be submitted at least 11 days before the election, while the previous deadline which was the Friday before Election Day. Data shows that 52% of the rejected applications were denied because they were submitted too late under the new law. Another 15% were rejected because of missing or incorrect ID information under the new law.’