Friend,

Burdensome. Unjustified. Unnecessary. The new restrictions that Georgia placed on its voters this week are an outrage – so we’re suing to overturn them.

You may have already heard about the sweeping new law in Georgia, SB 202, which was passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in under seven hours last Thursday. Its restrictions make it much harder for all Georgians to vote, particularly voters of color, new citizens and religious communities.

The 2020 presidential election and the 2021 Senate runoff elections in Georgia – which saw record voter turnout, especially among Black voters – have been celebrated for their integrity. Georgia election officials have praised these elections as safe and secure. But now, rather than capitalizing on those successes and working to expand participation in the political process, Georgia leaders are citing baseless allegations of voter fraud and moving to restrict access to the ballot. 

This is far from the first time in Georgia’s history that lawmakers have acted to limit voter participation, particularly for voters of color and other historically disenfranchised communities. This time, the state will have to answer in court.

The details: We filed a federal lawsuit in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and law firms WilmerHale and Davis Wright Tremaine, on behalf of the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Women Watch Afrika and Latino Community Fund of Georgia.

Why? Our lawsuit, Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Kemp, challenges multiple provisions of S.B. 202 that violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and infringe on Georgians’ rights under the 14th and 15th Amendments, including:

• a severe restriction on the use of mobile voting units;
• new, burdensome identification requirements for requesting and casting absentee ballots;
• a delayed and compressed period for requesting absentee ballots;
• restrictions on secure ballot drop boxes;
• the disqualification of provisional ballots cast outside a voter’s home precinct;
• a drastic reduction in early voting in runoff elections; and
• a ban on “line warming,” where volunteers provide water and snacks to Georgians, disproportionately those of color, who wait in needlessly long lines to cast their vote. (Our lawsuit charges that this ban on the free distribution of food and water also violates the First Amendment.) 

Learn more: You can read the full complaint here or the press release announcing the filing here.

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