Georgia was hit with a lawsuit from the Department of Justice today for its efforts to enact new voting restrictions, according to CNBC.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the suit during a press conference.
Related
This legal action would target the Election Integrity Act passed by Georgia’s Republican-led state legislature in March and signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. The law imposes new limits on the use of absentee ballots, makes it a crime for outside groups to provide food and water to voters waiting at polling stations, and hands greater control over election administration to the state legislature, according to the Washington Post.
The New York Times has called the 98-page bill an example of partisan power. It was introduced after Democratic candidates won against Republicans in the 2020 election and subsequent runoff elections.
Garland said the Department of Justice suit “the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote.”
Related
Florida passed a similar law in May and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to revive one that did not pass. Republican efforts in these states to restrict voting are linked to former President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, said CNBC.
Along with the suit, Garland announced the Department of Justice would revive a federal provision that requires that certain jurisdictions’ proposed changes to their voting rules could not be enforced until they proved to federal authorities that those changes did not deny or abridge voting rights on account of race, color or minority status.