A Georgia judge, sister of Democratic politician Stacey Abrams, refused to refuse a crucial election case, instead decided against purging 4,000 voters from state lists before the Senate elections.
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The decision by US District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner comes after two counties voted to remove a portion of voters’ names from their lists after two separate complaints alleging that publicly available voter registration data corresponded to records of voter turnout. address not verified by the US postal service.
The complaints in Muscogee and Ben Hill counties, however, failed to prove that voters had actually given up Georgia residences, according to Politico reports.
Marc Elias, a lawyer for the Democratic Party whose Democracy Forward group filed the lawsuit questioning the purges, called Gardner’s decision a “coup for the suppression of Republican Party voters”.
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Gardner’s decision said that pulling thousands of voters off the lists appeared to violate federal law that requires the voter to have the opportunity to provide written confirmation of a change of address before being removed from the list. In addition, the protocols required to purge the list were not followed within 90 days of a federal election.
“When it comes to changing the voter’s address, as in this case, NVRA [National Voter Registration Act of 1993] prohibits the removal of that voter unless the voter confirms in writing that he or she has moved out of the county or does not respond to a warning and has not voted in two federal election cycles, “the decision said.
Still, Muscogee County Council filed a motion before Gardner’s decision asking her to withdraw from the case because of her brother, a strong ally of President-elect Joe Biden and a defender who “has been involved in several highly disclosed to increase voter registration and attendance at the 2020 general elections in Georgia, “according to the motion.
Abrams is the founder of The New Georgia Project and is also affiliated with the Fair Fight voting group, which is in dispute over voter rights.
In early December, Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, began investigations in several groups, including The New Georgia Project, for seeking to “aggressively” register ineligible, out-of-state or deceased voters “before the second round of voting. Senate on January 5. elections, after a resident complained of receiving several postcards from the group to register deceased voters
In a separate matter, Fair Fight filed a lawsuit in the Georgia court alleging that an electoral fraud advocacy group, True the Vote, unfairly questioned the validity of some Georgia voters before the second round, which will decide the balance of power in the Senate.
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Gardner, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, considered the refusal request and said he found no reason to do so.
The composition of the next Senate is 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. That means Democrats must win Georgia’s two run-off elections to make it a 50-50 Senate, which would give Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tiebreaker and give her party tiny control in the chamber.