SPLC, NAACP, ACLU Sue Georgia Over New Elections Laws

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia is facing its third lawsuit following the passage of the state's new voting laws that activists say it makes it harder for everyone to vote, but particularly voters of color and other disenfranchised communities.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Law Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit late Monday night against the state after Senate Bill 202 was signed into law last week, a sweeping GOP-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run.

The three civil rights groups filed on behalf of the sixth district of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Women Watch Afrika, Latino Community Fund Georgia and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

"This law is voter suppression, plain and simple," said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "[It's] aimed at making it harder for Black and brown and other historically disenfranchised communities to have a voice in our democracy."

The lawsuit challenges specific provisions in SB 202, including the ban on mobile voting; new absentee ID requirements and ballot request deadlines; new drop box restrictions; and the ban on "line warming," where volunteers provide water and snacks to Georgians in line to vote.

Lakin said in particular, the "line warming" ban affects voters of color disproportionately.

"We all witnessed the hours-long lines to vote in Georgia during this last election cycle, from the primary onwards, and voters of color disproportionately bear the burden of waiting in these long lines," Lakin said. "But instead of celebrating, encouraging and making it easier for organizations like AME Church to affirm the dignity of Black and brown voters, and to provide refreshments and encouragement for voters subjected to these lines to stay in line and have a voice in these elections, Georgia is criminalizing these efforts."

However, Republican leaders, including Gov. Brian Kemp, say the laws actually expand the right to vote for most Georgians, and "make it easy to vote and hard to cheat." Republican legislators have likened "line warming" with those campaigning to voters in line.

"What this bill actually does is fight the rhetoric from those that are fund-raising off of this issue and polarizing it, to take away from the unconstitutional power grab of [House Resolution] 1 that’s going on in Washington D.C. right now," Kemp said on Fox News last week. "It further secures our absentee ballots by mail by requiring a photo I.D., which the vast majority of Georgians support. It is also adding days of early voting on the weekends. We’re expanding the right to vote in Georgia. You’re not hearing that from the other side. That’s what the truth is, as well as further securing absentee ballot boxes, which didn’t exist before."

The lawsuit comes after Kemp signed SB 202 into law in under seven hours last Thursday, and about two weeks after multiple voting rights groups called on Georgia's major corporations — Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, AFLAC, Southern Company, Delta Airlines and UPS — to condemn the voting bills and stop donating money to any lawmaker who votes in favor of them.

But this is not the state's first lawsuit about SB 202.

Two other lawsuits are in the pipeline for Georgia. One filed by a coalition of advocacy groups, including the NAACP of Georgia, says the new law is an effort to suppress Black voters in response to the 2020 Democratic victories for president and U.S. Senate runoffs, which saw record turnout from Black voters compared to the 2016 elections.

The other lawsuit, brought by The New Georgia Project and other groups, claims the law burdens voters based on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in Georgia's elections.