The Justice Department confirmed that it will intervene in a lawsuit targeting an 11-day deadline to register for mail-in ballots in Georgia.
The Department of Justice (DOJ)
confirmed on July 8 that it will intervene in a lawsuit that challenges a Georgia state deadline for absentee ballot applications and whether it is illegal under the Voting Rights Act.
In 2023, a group of theater workers challenged a provision of Georgia state law SB 202, which was passed in 2021 and requires a voter to apply for an absentee ballot 11 days before a presidential election. Their
lawsuit argues that Section 202 of the Voting Rights Act mandates that voters be able to cast ballots in presidential elections if they applied seven days before an election, arguing that the Georgia law violates federal law, and requests that a court block the law’s enforcement.
The DOJ’s filing on July 8 did not make any arguments. It was a notice that it would make a filing that “exercises its right to intervene in this proceeding to defend the constitutionality of Section 202 of the Voting Rights Act,” noting that it would “submit a brief regarding the constitutionality and interpretation of Section 202” by July 22.
Earlier this year, the DOJ filed a statement
expressing interest in the lawsuit that challenges the state’s 11-day application deadline and “has a substantial interest in ensuring Section 202’s proper interpretation.” The agency also argued that private parties are able to file lawsuits to enforce the section of the Voting Rights Act, which provides a “general remedy for private plaintiffs to redress violations of federal rights committed by state actors.”
Republican state officials have defended the 11-day cutoff deadline, arguing that the group of theater workers lacks the right to sue under the Voting Rights Act.
Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr, who is leading the counter-arguments, argued that only the U.S. attorney general has that jurisdiction.
Mr. Carr
said in late 2023 that the theater workers have not “come close to satisfying its burden of establishing standing.”
They instead rely “only on threadbare allegations of injury that are insufficient even at this stage,” his office wrote. “The court should ... dismiss the amended complaint because Plaintiff has no private right of action under the [Voting Rights Act].”
The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party also
submitted court filings in the case, arguing that the deadline rules in question should be upheld and that the plaintiffs’ case should be dismissed.
In a separate challenge to the 2021 Georgia law, a federal
judge in 2023 ruled against the DOJ and voting rights groups after they claimed that the Republican-backed law intentionally discriminates against black voters by issuing new rules on providing identification for mail-in voting, restricting drop boxes, shortening the absentee ballot request, and other provisions.
Earlier this year, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation—
SB 189—that made new changes to Georgia’s voting laws, including defining “probable causes” for removing voters from the rolls when their eligibility is challenged.
The measure lists death, evidence of voting or registering in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a nonresidential address as probable causes for removing voters from the rolls. It also states that the National Change of Address list can be considered, although not exclusively.
The new legal activity on July 8 comes about four months before the general election in Georgia, which pollsters have forecast would be a battleground state. During the 2020 election, the race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was decided by only about 11,000 votes, according to data provided by the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
An aggregate of recent
polls in Georgia shows that former President Trump is currently about 4 percentage points ahead of President Biden.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
