AG Garland Announces DOJ Will Sue Georgia Over Election Law

What’s the story?

• The Dept. of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that it will file a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s recently-enacted election law, marking the beginning of the Biden administration’s push against state-level election reforms enacted by Republicans. 
• Attorney General Merrick Garland held a press conference and explained that the lawsuit alleges Georgia’s election reforms were done with the intent of denying blacks the right to vote:

“Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia’s election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Several studies show that Georgia experienced record voter turnout and participation rates in the 2020 election cycle. Approximately two-thirds of eligible voters in the state cast a ballot in the November election, just over the national average. This is cause for celebration. But then in March of 2021, Georgia’s legislature passed SB 202. Many of that law’s provisions make it harder for people to vote.”

• Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke explained that the lawsuit will focus on several aspects of the Georgia election law. It will cover provisions that barred officials from sending unrequested applications for absentee ballots and fined third-party groups that send absentee ballot applications; moved up the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot by a week; restricted distribution of food and drinks to voters in line at polling places; placed restrictions on the use of ballot drop boxes; created new ID requirements to obtain an absentee ballot; and required voters at the wrong precinct to either go to the proper precinct or cast a provisional ballot.
• There may soon be some clarity as to what the Supreme Court thinks about the element of the DOJ’s lawsuit pertaining to the voting process for voters at the wrong precinct, as the high court is expected to issue a decision next week in a case related to a similar rule in Arizona.
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) took to Twitter where he blasted the Biden administration’s decision to use the DOJ to sue Georgia over the election law and expressed confidence the Peach State will prevail after judicial review:

“This lawsuit is born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from the start. Joe Biden, Stacey Abrams, and their allies tried to force an unconstitutional elections power grab through Congress - and failed. Now, they are weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy. As Secretary of State, I fought the Obama Justice Department twice to protect the security of our elections - and won. I look forward to going three for three to ensure it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat in Georgia.”

What does the Georgia election law do?

VOTER ID

• Georgia law previously required voters to show a form of identification to vote in person, but absentee ballots weren’t subject to the ID requirement. 
• Under the new election law, the ID requirement applies to all ballots, while a previous signature requirement is eliminated (CBS found that about 3,200 of 1.1 million mail ballots were rejected due to signature issues in a June 2020 primary).
• Voters can satisfy the ID requirement with a photo ID with a driver’s license, the last four digits of their Social Security number, a utility bill, a bank statement, a government check, a paycheck, or a government document that shows their name and address. Voters can also obtain a free ID card from the state Dept. of Driver Services.
• Absentee voters may provide a photocopy with their ballot to satisfy the requirement but can alternatively provide the ID number from their state-issued ID or the last four digits of their Social Security number to do so. 

EARLY VOTING

• The new Georgia law requires there to be at least 17 days of early voting. Early voting would begin on the Monday that’s 22 days prior to Election Day and conclude on the Friday before the election.
• Counties are required to offer early voting on at least two Saturdays (only one was required under prior law), and may also offer early voting on Sundays. Previously, most of the larger Georgia counties offered early voting on two Saturdays, but smaller, rural counties were less likely to do so.
• Early voting must be open from 9am until 5pm, but counties may choose to offer expanded hours and remain open from 7am to 7pm. Previously, Georgia required that counties be open for early voting “during regular business hours” which meant that some rural counties with part-time election offices weren’t open for an eight-hour day.

ABSENTEE / MAIL-IN VOTING

• State election officials are prohibited from sending unsolicited absentee ballot request forms to voters, so voters will have to request absentee ballots to receive them. Third-party groups may send absentee ballot request forms to voters, but must include a disclaimer that reads: “This is NOT an official government publication and was NOT provided to you by any governmental entity and this is NOT a ballot.”
• The timeline for requesting and returning absentee ballots has been shortened by the new law. Voters can request absentee ballots as early as 78 days prior to an election (rather than 180 days) and must return them 11 days before the election.
• Georgia allowed the use of secure drop boxes for returning ballots for the first time in 2020, and the new law requires at least one drop box per county (but no more than one drop box per 100,000 county residents). 
• The drop boxes must be located inside the clerk’s office or inside a voting location and accessible during early voting hours, then closed when early voting ends. During the 2020 elections drop boxes were available at any time.

IN-PERSON VOTING

• Counties that had a precinct with more than 2,000 voters in the last election or a precinct where voters waited for more than an hour to vote are required by the new law to create a new precinct or add resources that will reduce wait times.
• Voters who go to the wrong precinct before 5pm will be instructed to go to the correct precinct instead of casting a provisional ballot, but if they’re at the wrong precinct after 5pm they can cast a provisional ballot if they’re unable to get to the proper precinct before polls close.

FOOD & BEVERAGE SERVICE AT POLLING PLACES

• Georgia law previously banned political campaigns and interest groups from distributing or displaying campaign materials within 150 feet of a polling place or within 25 feet of voters in line for a polling place.
• The new law also bans political campaigns and interest groups from giving voters gifts while they’re in line at a polling place, “including but not limited to, food and drink.” This provision is intended to prevent campaign workers or members of outside groups from campaigning within restricted areas.
• Poll workers are allowed to set up self-service water for voters in line to use for hydration. Voters may also bring food and drink with them or get them from political campaign workers outside of the restricted areas around polling places.

ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

• The secretary of state will no longer chair the five-member state election board, and will instead be a non-voting ex officio member. The board members and the non-partisan chair will be elected by the state legislature. The chair is prohibited from actively participating in a political party or similar organization, making political donations, or running for public office while serving in the role or in the two years prior to serving as chair.
• The election board is granted new powers over local election officials under the new law. The board is able to suspend county or city election officials for poor performance or violating election board rules following a preliminary investigation and hearing then appoint temporary replacements, although no more than four officials can be suspended. 
• A pandemic-related change that allowed election workers to start processing (but not tabulating) absentee ballots 15 days prior to Election Day is made permanent by the new law.
• Election officials are required to publish the total number of ballots cast ― including Election Day, early voting, and absentee ballots ― by 10pm on Election Day.
• Once election workers begin tabulating ballots they must continue counting until they’re done. With this change, counties are required to certify election results within six days, rather than 10 days under prior law. 
• The Georgia attorney general is required to establish a hotline for voters to raise complaints about voter intimidation or other suspected illegal activity. Complaints can be anonymous and the AG is required to review the allegations to assess whether it merits further investigation or prosecution. Voters can challenge the qualifications of another voter to cast a ballot.

RUNOFFS

• The period for runoff elections has been shortened from nine weeks after the general election to 28 days after the general election. 
• The new law requires early voting in a runoff to begin “as soon as possible” and for early voting to be open from Monday through Friday, with weekend early voting possible depending on progress made by counties in completing work from the prior election.
• Military and overseas voters will receive ranked-choice ballots on their primary and general election ballots because the shorter runoff period would make it difficult for them to receive and return the runoff ballot.

RELATED READING

• What’s in the Georgia Election Law? Voter ID Changes & More

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Senate Democrats via Flickr / Creative Commons)