Georgia voting law: Civil rights groups file third federal challenge

The Georgia law is part of a larger effort by GOP legislators across the country — including in the battleground states of Michigan and Arizona — to roll back voting access in the wake of the 2020 election.

‘Bold and and shameful’

Sherrilyn Ifill, the NAACP LDF’s president and director-counsel, said Tuesday the law is “perhaps the most bold and shameful voter suppression legislation enacted in the modern era.”

“Its purpose and target are clear: to create barriers to voting for Black voters who turned out in record numbers for the November 2020 presidential election and the January 2021 special election,” Ifill said in a statement. “The provisions of the new law and the manner in which it was enacted reflect a thorough disregard for the sanctity of protecting the right to vote and a headlong and determined zeal to diminish Black political power in Georgia.”

It also alleges Republican officials included specific changes that target voters of color after the record turnout and Democratic victories in the November 2020 presidential election and two Senate runoffs in January 2021.

Marc Elias, an election attorney, filed a lawsuit last week on behalf of the New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter and Rise Inc. on similar grounds.