A federal judge has declined to force the state of Georgia to immediately restore to voting rolls thousands of people who were removed last year.
Black Voters Matter filed a federal lawsuit with the United States District Court Northern District of Georgia Atlanta division, alleging that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger violated the National Voter Registration Act.
Raffensperger removed around 198,000 citizens from the voter rolls. He alleged that they had moved from their address listed on their voter registration, according to Greg Palast.
The lawsuit filed in collaboration with Transformative Justice Coalition and Rainbow PUSH states that none of those citizens had moved. They requested a preliminary injunction to stop the SOS Raffensperger from obstructing these citizens from exercising their fundamental and legal right to vote in the upcoming January election.
Federal District Court Judge Steve Jones denied the Plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction in the case, but strongly encouraged the Parties to meet to address what the Court acknowledged were discrepancies between Plaintiffs’ expert lists and the Secretary of State’s list.
“This a voter suppression case,” said Plaintiffs’ counsel C.K. Hoffler. “We alleged that close to 200,000 Georgians who properly registered to vote were illegally or improperly stricken from the rolls. We filed an injunction because of the injustice of having so many disenfranchised voters when faced with an upcoming runoff election. Plaintiffs believe that everyone who properly registered in the State of Georgia should be allowed to vote. Period.”
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter said, “We are glad we took on this fight. This case, based on the investigation of Greg Palast’s team and the September 2020 ACLU of Georgia report, exposed the massive continuing suppression of Georgians’ rights. We’ve already reached 98,000 endangered voters. We will continue our work to protect our voters in court — and at the polls. Our Bus is still rolling. The Secretary of State needs to do his job and let these people vote!”
