Civil rights coalition sues Georgia over ‘racist’ voting law

Dave Goldiner

A coalition of civil rights groups has sued Georgia over its just-enacted voting law that it claims targets Black voters and other people of color after they scored historic victories in the Deep South state.

The NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union are asking a judge to strike down the measure that includes tighter new rules for absentee ballots and a shocking ban on handing out water to people waiting in long lines.

“This law is driven by blatant racism, represents politics at its very worst, and is clearly illegal,” said Sophia Lakin, deputy director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “We urge the court to act swiftly to strike it down.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta late on Monday called the law “an attack on democracy itself” and argued that the provisions would force far more residents to vote in person on Election Day, effectively making it far more difficult for minority voters to participate.

The NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union are asking a judge to strike down the measure that includes tighter new rules for absentee ballots and a shocking ban on handing out water to people waiting in long lines.
The NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union are asking a judge to strike down the measure that includes tighter new rules for absentee ballots and a shocking ban on handing out water to people waiting in long lines.


The NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union are asking a judge to strike down the measure that includes tighter new rules for absentee ballots and a shocking ban on handing out water to people waiting in long lines. (John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com/)

The bill also limits drop boxes for absentee ballots, drastically curtails early voting in run-off elections and tosses ballots cast at the wrong voting precincts, among other measures.

Republicans moved quickly to enact the so-called S.B. 202 after President Biden beat former President Trump in the state and Democrats won both U.S. Senate seats in a shocking double victory that gave them control of the Senate.

Those wins were driven by outsized turnout by Black voters and by Democrats voting by mail, trends that have sparked a backlash from Republicans nationwide.

“S.B. 202 is perhaps the most bold and shameful voter suppression legislation enacted in the modern era” said Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “The provisions of the new law ... reflect a determined zeal to diminish Black political power in Georgia.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta late on Monday called the law “an attack on democracy itself” and argued that the provisions would force far more residents to vote in person on Election Day, effectively making it far more difficult for minority voters to participate.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta late on Monday called the law “an attack on democracy itself” and argued that the provisions would force far more residents to vote in person on Election Day, effectively making it far more difficult for minority voters to participate.


The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta late on Monday called the law “an attack on democracy itself” and argued that the provisions would force far more residents to vote in person on Election Day, effectively making it far more difficult for minority voters to participate. (Alyssa Pointer/)

Trump famously tried unsuccessfully to bully Georgia Republican officials into overturning his narrow loss to Biden.

Even though Trump’s claims that Democrats “rigged” the vote have been thoroughly debunked, the wild charges have driven the GOP effort to change the law to tighten access to the ballot box.

The Georgia law has already drawn three legal challenges and has sparked widespread outrage among Democrats and people of color, especially as other GOP-run states push similar measures.

Activists led by Black lawmakers have mounted protests against the law and have threatened boycotts of some Georgia-based corporate giants if they don’t speak up and work against the law.

Coca-Cola and Delta have already issued statements of dismay about the law’s provisions, although activists say they don’t go far enough.

Peach State voters will go to the polls in 2022 as voting rights activist Stacey Abrams is expected to seek to flip her groundbreaking narrow loss to current Gov. Brian Kemp. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who won in a narrow recount, will also seek to score reelection in a likely tough fight.

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