Georgia Voting Rights Groups File Federal Lawsuit Against Many Provisions of SB 202

On March 25, several Georgia groups that promote voter registration filed a federal lawsuit against SB 202, the omnibus election law bill that was signed into law on March 25. The New Georgia Project v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:21cv-1229. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge J. P. Boulee, a Trump appointee. Here is the Complaint.

The lawsuit does not challenge the implementation of ranked choice voting for overseas voters. The Complaint is somewhat vague about exactly what provisions are being challenged. It says on page four that the bill “drastically cuts the mandatory early voting period for runoff elections”, but the Complaint does not say that the date of the run-off itself is being challenged.

The case clearly challenges these laws: (1) absentee ballot requests must include a copy of I.D.; (2) the use of portable polling facilities, which even under the old law were only used in emergencies, such as the electricity going off at a polling place; (3) drop boxes for receipt of absentee ballots that are outside and available around the clock; (4) forbids the state from distributing absentee ballot requests that are unsolicited; (5) prohibits voter registration groups from returning absentee ballot applications; (6) forbids anyone other than polling place officials from offering water or food to voters standing in line waiting to vote; (7) forbids letting a voter use a provisional ballot at a polling place that is different from that voter’s own polling place, before 5 p.m.; (8) makes it easier for challengers to try to stop a voter from voting; (9) cut early voting hours for run-off elections.


Comments

Georgia Voting Rights Groups File Federal Lawsuit Against Many Provisions of SB 202 — 24 Comments

  1. “6) forbids anyone other than polling place officials from offering water or food to voters standing in line waiting to vote”

    Seriously? Could this really stand up to challenge?

  2. Will the water/food be poisoned by Elephant poll workers ???

    New Biden Union Army to liberate GA again the very hard way

    — as in 1864-1865 ???

  3. Gerrymander hacks too stupid to ONLY have —

    Voters may vote ONLY as follows —

    ballots / times / places / etc.

  4. Elias Donkey gang must have been typing for hours overnight to slam the Complaint paras together.

  5. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/26/biden-congress-georgia-voting-restrictions-478170

    Biden urges Congress to pass election reform in wake of Georgia voting restrictions
    “This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end,” Biden said in a statement.
    By BEN LEONARD
    03/26/2021 03:27 PM EDT
    Updated: 03/26/2021 04:56 PM EDT
    President Joe Biden slammed Georgia’s new voting restrictions, calling them 21st-century “Jim Crow” and urging Congress to pass election reform bills.
    —–
    MORE BIDEN FED TAKEOVER OF THE VERY LITTLE REMAINING OF THE STATES.

  6. Says the guy who wants to get rid of the Senate and electoral college. Not Biden, but demo rep. As for Biden, yeah, he’s now for getting rid of the filibuster. That doesn’t matter, because they still don’t have the votes to do it, and thus won’t pass much of anything except the economic and budget bills they can pass with reconciliation.

  7. Look for Republicans to take back congress in ’22 and the presidency in ’24, quite possibly with Trump again. They’re in control of redistricting in most states too, so most legislatures, congressional seats and federal courts will keep leaning Republican.

  8. Biden called the law “Jim Eagle” as an escalation of “Jim Crow.” He or whoever wrote the answers to the press conference questions for him think the “Crow” in “Jim Crow” refers to a bird.

  9. Filibuster also subverts 1-3-4 —

    VP having tie-breaker vote in Senate — procedure AND on passage of bills.

    too many Const Law MORONS to count on BAN.

  10. What if every group decided that everyone gave out all their drinks unlimited. Let’s give out candies and water and chips, and phone charging, and vodka, and free tickets to the movies and free money. Only polling place workers should be able to give out refreshments.

  11. Food and water for people waiting in line for 12 hours ain’t vodka or money. Polling place workers have plenty to do without handing out food or water, and they aren’t given food or water to hand out. There are already laws against financial incentives to vote, as well as against drinking in public.

  12. How about free hugs, or free neck massages? Maybe the Georgia legislature forgot to include them.

  13. They also forgot to outlaw bringing a folding chair, talking to the people in line next to you, using a cell phone on electronic device, or wearing comfortable shoes. I’m sure they’ll fix those oversights soon.

  14. Also on the chopping block: umbrellas, hats, ponchos, blankets, coolers…hey, while they’re outlawing bringing food and drinks for people, maybe they’ll outlaw bringing your own food or drinks, too.

  15. If they’re so concerned about pols bribing voters standing in line with freebies, maybe mail-in voting isn’t such a bad idea, after all.

  16. Yes, Food = bribe.

    Flip the argument for a moment. Imagine it isn’t a bribe and has nothing whatsoever to do with voting, then why in the world would anyone care about it? Why would it be “Jim Crow” to not have free pizza?

    At a regular Fortune 500 company where I worked, a vendor would give us free bagels. Eventually management implemented a policy banning any vendors from giving us food. Why you ask? Because the vendor wasn’t doing it for no reason. The vendor was favored because employees wanted the free bagels to continue.

    There is no logical relationship of voting to eating. The vociferous fight to keep it, is because it was expected to work. Its a form of using money to buy elections.

    The way it works is this, you find a geographic locations, where historically the vote is greater for your party than another. You figure by driving up participation in that polling area, it will change the final outcome of the election. You invest in pizza parties and free food and whatever else to drive up the vote for your candidate.

    Btw, giving gifts for voting is already a violation of federal law. It’d be OK, I think, if the federal government paid everyone $1000 to vote.
    What cannot be OK, is for someone to manipulate the vote, by bribing only certain locations to change the outcome.

  17. Levels of food/drink BRIBES ??? –

    slice of bread vs roast beef fast food ???

    water vs 200 proof booze ???

    Thus – BRIBE — ANY thing of ***value*** ???

    See bribery laws. 1787 USA Const 2-4 bribery – second after treason.

    How many zillion bribes of gerrymander HACKS – esp re govt contracts ???

    See zillion FBI cases re bribed local hacks using Fed Aid.

  18. Why would anyone care? Because people in some areas in Georgia are waiting 9, 10, 11, 12 hours in line to vote. Those areas just happen to be disproportionately poor and majority black. People in other parts of Georgia don’t have such long waiting times to vote. Many, probably most, in predominantly Caucasian, rural and suburban areas are in and out in minutes. What is it about how the precinct lines are drawn, where polling places are put or what equipment they are provided with that causes such long wait times in some places compared to others? That’s the real discrepancy that should be dealt with, not churches and charitable groups trying to alleviate this terrible situation by giving people food and water.

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