6th District Race: Judge Orders Georgia To Reopen Voter Registration

EAST COBB, GA — A federal court in Georgia issued an injunction Thursday that orders the state to temporarily reopen voter registration in the 6th Congressional District race, a process state elections officials said that while they are prepared to follow, it will not be an easy task to carry out.

The decision by Judge Timothy Batten of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia means that voters who had not registered 90 days before the June 20 runoff will be allowed to do so.

The ruling comes after The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a Washington voting rights advocacy group, sued the state under the claim that Georgia hindered participation in the election, which is being closely watched by the White House and is seen as a test of President Donald Trump's popularity on the local level.

• (To stay up to date on all developments in the 6th District, click here to sign up for the East Cobb Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

“Would-be voters in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District were denied a full and fair opportunity to register and vote under the prior law,” Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee, said in a statement Thursday. “Today’s decision extending the voter registration deadline helps ensure that eligible voters will be able to participate in the upcoming runoff election, and in all future runoff elections for federal office. States like Georgia must stop taking actions that suppress the rights of voters.”

Candice Broce, spokesperson for the Office of Georgia's Secretary of State, said her boss, Brian Kemp, "swore an oath to uphold and defend Georgia law."

"That is what he did, and that is what he will continue to do," she added. "We will seek to comply with the order."

Broce cautioned that the state's attempt to follow the order will be a new one, as the Secretary of State's Office has never made this kind of change before this late into the game. Georgia has not "been able to test this change like we usually do with other changes to the system, and that’s not ideal," she added.

"We want to be realistic that this is not as easy as flipping a switch in the system," Broce stated.

The runoff election for Georgia's 6th congressional district pits Democrat Jon Ossoff against Republican Karen Handel. Outside groups — GOP-backed and Democratic — have already spent millions in the race to replace the seat vacated by Roswell doctor Tom Price, who is now the nation's health secretary.

In his ruling, Batten said the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 overruled state law when it came to federal elections. Now, eligible voters will have through May 21 to register to cast a ballot in the race.

Read more: Jon Ossoff Vs. Karen Handel: What National Media Are Saying

The advocacy group filed suit on behalf of five other state groups: the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta Inc., the Georgia NAACP, Third Sector Development, Inc., and ProGeorgia State Table Inc.

The House of Representatives race also has led to an outcry for more transparency by election watchers after polling stations, especially in Fulton County, experienced issues that delayed the tallying of votes on April 19.

Ossoff came just short of winning the 6th District House seat in the April 19 special election against 17 other candidates. His 48 percent total was 2 percent shy of the 50 percent he needed to turn the longtime GOP-leaning district, which includes parts of Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb counties, into a Democratic one and win the race outright.

Read more: 6th District House Race: New Poll Shows Dead Heat

Read more: Trump Raises $750,000 For Karen Handel In Atlanta Visit

Read more: Dems, GOP Claim Win As Ossoff, Handel Face Runoff

Read more: Georgia 6th District Election Results: Ossoff Drops Under 50 Percent

Image via Patch file photos courtesy of Karen Handel, Jon Ossoff campaigns