Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced a victory for Georgia voters on Thursday. Out-of-state groups from San Francisco and Washington, D.C. tried to stop parts of Georgia’s Election Integrity Act (SB 202) from taking effect, but a U.S. District Judge found that the challenged parts of the law dealing with third-party groups sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters were both “reasonable and supported by important regulatory interests.”
“This is a huge win for election integrity,” said Raffensperger. “I am proud to defend Georgia law, and the Election Integrity Act’s common-sense reforms to the absentee ballot application process will help both voters and county election officials. Just like the record turnout in the May primary, this ruling is one more nail in the coffin of the false allegations that Georgia’s Election Integrity Act is ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ This law has common-sense reforms that will help ensure smooth, secure, and accessible elections in Georgia.
The out of state groups challenged the Election Integrity Act’s common sense reforms that do not allow them to send out pre-filled absentee ballot applications, duplicate applications to voters who have already requested or voted an absentee ballot, and that require a disclaimer identifying the group sending out the application. In 2020, both the Secretary of State’s office and county election officials received numerous complaints from voters regarding pre-filled forms with incorrect addresses or sent to people who had never lived at that address. Election officials also received calls from voters confused as to why they were receiving multiple applications and whether they were required to send the forms in.
Original source can be found here.
