Georgia
America's Commitment to Democracy
America’s strength lies in its citizens’ commitment to the freedom to vote and honest elections. For our democracy to work, our citizens must have equal opportunities to register to vote, cast their votes, and have those votes counted. The public needs to trust that our elections are free and fair. But politicians have increasingly worked to make it harder for Americans who oppose them to vote, and trust in our democracy is dropping. Recent changes to Georgia’s voting laws have added barriers to hard-working Americans’ freedom:
Key provisions of Georgia’s 2021 S.B. 202:
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Fewer Absentee Ballot Boxes: Limited drop-off locations, making absentee voting harder.
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Emergency Ballot Restrictions: Emergency ballots are harder to obtain, leaving voters with fewer options if their plans change on Election Day.
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Criminalizing Kindness: Volunteers offering water to voters in long lines face legal penalties.
While these measures claim to streamline the election process, critics argue they create "speed bumps" that add up, discouraging voter participation.
Did You Know?
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Georgia's 2020 results were affirmed through 3 separate recounts and reviews.
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Despite this, Georgia has proposed and passed new laws to make it harder for citizens to vote and easier for politicians to pick their voters, and made it harder for the public servants who run our elections to do so safely and efficiently. The politicians behind these laws even tried to make it illegal for churches to donate their space for polling locations.
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Georgia’s new voting restrictions are especially hard on veterans, the elderly, and young people–and they empower politicians and partisan groups motivated by base political goals to throw out votes cast in good faith by American citizens.
We have got to send a clear message to our leaders. We must protect American citizens’ sacred freedom to vote.
Recent Judicial Decisions on Voting Rules
Right before the 2024 General Election, the Georgia State Election Board changed various rules regarding elections and the certification of election results. County election officials in Georgia asked them to stop, concerned they would create unnecessary confusion for poll workers and voters.
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Invalidation of State Election Board Rules:
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On October 16, 2024, a Georgia judge struck down seven rules passed by the State Election Board, declaring them “illegal, unconstitutional, and void.”
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Blocked Rules Included:
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Mandatory hand-counting of paper ballots to match electronic tallies, which critics said would delay results and overburden poll workers.
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Certification requirements allowing county officials to conduct ambiguous "reasonable inquiries" into election results, potentially delaying certification.
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The judge emphasized that these rules conflicted with Georgia’s Election Code and could not be implemented.
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Supreme Court Declines to Reinstate Rules:
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On October 30, 2024, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, preventing the challenged rules from going into effect for this election cycle.
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Certification Ruling:
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Another judge ruled on October 15, 2024, that county election officials must certify results by state deadlines, regardless of suspected errors or fraud. The ruling affirmed that certification is a non-discretionary task.
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How New Voting Restrictions Undermine Election Integrity in Georgia
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Roadblocks from S.B. 202: While touted as necessary for restoring confidence, S.B. 202 adds layers of bureaucracy, such as limited absentee ballot boxes and increased ID requirements for voters returning ballots.
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Grassroots Advocacy: Voting rights groups are actively educating Georgians on how to navigate these barriers, ensuring they are informed and prepared to vote despite the restrictions.
After more Georgia citizens voted than ever before and Governor Kemp said he was “frustrated” with the results of the 2020 election, Georgia has passed extreme anti-voter laws that undermine our freedom to vote and make it harder for citizens to vote and easier for the political party in power to decide which votes are counted.
Learn how these new laws may affect you and your community.
Why This Matters
Georgia’s evolving election rules, especially those tied to partisan agendas, threaten to undermine public trust and create unnecessary obstacles for voters. These changes disproportionately impact veterans, young voters, and marginalized communities.
What's Next?
Several lawsuits challenging these voting restrictions remain ongoing. Advocates continue to work tirelessly to defend the freedom to vote and ensure election integrity in Georgia.
Latest Election Integrity News in Georgia
Judge Rules Against Voter Protections for Georgia Citizens
Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger (2022) was the first voting rights case to reach a full trial in Georgia in more than a decade. It sought to strengthen voting rights protections in Georgia in response to the unconstitutional policies that have created extreme obstacles for citizens to exercise their freedom to vote and resulted in a failure to uniformly apply election laws across Georgia’s 159 counties.
Fair Fight Action presented the following claims during the trial:
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The Georgia Secretary of State’s failure to provide adequate training to counties on the correct procedures for in-person absentee ballot cancellations violates the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause;
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The Georgia Secretary of State’s failure to maintain accurate voter rolls violates the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments; and
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The Georgia Secretary of State’s Exact Match Policy violates the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, the Fifteenth Amendment’s ban on racial discrimination, as well as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Despite testimony from 51 witnesses, including representatives from churches and organizations, two dozen voters, would-be voters, and poll watchers, personnel from the Secretary of State’s Office, State Election Board members, legal experts, and other government officials, the judge hearing the case ruled against Fair Fight Action and against increased protections for Georgia voters.
This was an important and historical case that gave voters a chance to be heard. Unfortunately, in recent years, a divided Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled against the Voting Rights Act in Brnovich v. DNC and other cases, and has eroded other protections put in place to prevent politicians from restricting access to voting.
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