Leftist Groups File Lawsuit Against Georgia Election Integrity Law

People vote in the 2020 general election at the Northwest Activities Center on November 3,
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

Left-wing groups have lodged a complaint against the election integrity measure Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed into law Thursday, deeming it a “Voter Suppression Bill.”

The complaint, filed in Atlanta on Thursday, contends the measure will make it “harder for lawful Georgia voters to participate in the State’s elections” and asserts it will “impose these unjustifiable burdens disproportionately on the State’s minority, young, poor, and disabled citizens.” The plaintiffs are listed as the New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, and Rise Inc.

Changes, via the law, include “imposing voter ID requirements, limiting drop boxes and allowing state takeovers of local elections after last year’s close presidential race,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“These provisions lack any justification for their burdensome and discriminatory effects on voting,” the complaint states.

“Instead, they represent a hodgepodge of unnecessary restrictions that target almost every aspect of the voting process but serve no legitimate purpose or compelling state interest other than to make absentee, early, and election-day voting more difficult—especially for minority voters,” it continues, echoing the claims made by prominent Democrats, many of whom routinely describe basic election integrity measures as forms of voter suppression.

Some, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and President Joe Biden, have even made comparisons to the era of Jim Crow in recent days.

“Significant reforms to our state elections were needed,” Georgia Gov. Kemp said after signing the measure.

“There’s no doubt there were many alarming issues with how the election was handled, and those problems, understandably, led to a crisis of confidence in the ballot box here in Georgia,” he added.

The executive director of Heritage Action praised the Georgia “Election Integrity Act of 2021” after Kemp signed it, casting it as a model for the nation.

“Reforms to make voter ID requirements and early voting access more consistent statewide, modernize the state’s voting rolls, and ensure robust oversight of voting and elections will protect Georgia’s votes and make the state a model for the rest of the country,” Heritage Action executive director Jessica Anderson said in a statement.

Heritage Action also addressed the false claims Schumer touted during Wednesday’s Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing on S. 1, or the “For the People Act”:

The lawsuit comes as Democrats continue to push the “For the People Act,” which would effectively strip states of their power to implement basic election integrity measures. This includes voter ID, which a majority of voters, including black and Hispanic voters, support.

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