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Georgia’s voter new suppression laws are being challenged by the Georgia ACLU, its Executive Director Andrea Young tells Jonathan Capehart. Young also slams Gov. Kemp following his signing Georgia’s voter suppression legislation into law, thus rendering means he has used to vote illegal.

Georgia’s Anti-Voter Law

Within seven hours on March 25, 2021, the Georgia State House of Representatives and Senate passed and Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Georgia’s anti-voter rights law. These elected officials’ actions follow the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 runoff elections for two seats to the U.S. Senate that saw record turnout of voters, particularly Black voters, in Georgia.

Georgia’s anti-voter bill attacks absentee voting, criminalizes Georgians who give a drink of water to their neighbors, allows the State to takeover county elections, and retaliates against the elected Secretary of State by replacing him with a State Board of Elections Chair chosen by the legislature—rather than the voters.

56 years ago on that very date, March 25, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 from the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. The Georgia House and Senate legislative majority as well as Governor repudiated their native son with passage of and signing into law this anti-voter bill.

Voting rights advocates organize against ‘tsunami of anti-voter bills’ from Georgia GOP

Ana Maria Rosato secured interviews for Andrea Young, ACLU of Georgia’s Executive Director with two MSNBC shows. The Rachel Maddow Show (above) on March 5, 2021, and The Sunday Show With Jonathan Capehart (below) on April 4, 2021, regarding Georgia’s anti-voter law.

Ana Maria Rosato organized the press conference that followed the ACLU of Georgia’s federal lawsuit that successfully challenged Georgia’s signature match practice.

Click the image to view and download as a pdf.

Georgia ACLU executive director critiques Gov. Kemp signing legislation that makes means he’s used to vote illegal

Georgia’s voter new suppression laws are being challenged by the Georgia ACLU, its Executive Director Andrea Young tells Jonathan Capehart. Young also slams Gov. Kemp following his signing Georgia’s voter suppression legislation into law, thus rendering means he has used to vote illegal.
(Text from MSNBC website.)

How Does This Law Affect Georgia Voters?

The State forces citizens who need to vote by mail to risk identity theft.
The State cuts off citizens’ ability to apply for an absentee, mail-in ballot 11-days before the final election day without any provisions for emergencies such as the need to quarantine for COVID. Governor Kemp applied for an absentee ballot the Friday before the 2020 November election and used a dropbox for this very reason.
The State restricts drop box locations and hours to inside early voting locations during office hours only. Last election, drop boxes were located outside of buildings and accessible 24/7.
The State can take-over local election boards and hire and fire local employees when an election result displeases a politician.
The State can put in jail citizens who offer food or water to voters standing in line for hours in the heat.
The State bans local counties, cities, and towns from receiving private funding which has paid for things such as generators during a terrible storm on Election Day.

The ACLU of Georgia Lawsuit

Civil rights groups filed a new federal lawsuit against Georgia’s sweeping law that makes it much harder for all Georgians to vote, particularly voters of color, new citizens, religious communities, and people with disabilities.

The lawsuit challenges multiple provisions in S.B. 202, including the following:
- ban on mobile voting
- new narrow identification requirements for requesting and casting an absentee ballot
- delayed and compressed time period for requesting absentee ballots
- restrictions on secure drop boxes
- out-of-precinct provisional ballot disqualification
- drastic reduction in early voting in runoff elections
- perhaps most cruelly, ban on “line warming,” where volunteers provide water and snacks to Georgians, disproportionately those of color, who wait in needlessly long lines to cast their vote.
More information on the AME v Raffensperger lawsuit is on the ACLU of Georgia website.

Media Coverage

Press Releases

News Articles

Photo by Ana Maria Rosato, communications director, ACLU of Georgia

Sean J.Young, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia, speaks with local, state, and national reporters after appearing in federal court challenging Georgia election officials’ practice of throwing out absentee ballots over allegations that the signatures failed to match.

Georgia election officials — none of whom were hired as or trained to be handwriting analysts — were throwing out absentee ballots if they thought that a voter’s signature didn’t match the signature on the voter registration application.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU of Georgia explained that “[a] person’s signature … may vary for a variety of reasons, both intentional and unintentional. Unintentional factors include age, physical and mental condition, disability, medication, stress, accidents, and inherent differences in a person’s neuromuscular coordination and stance. Variants are more prevalent in people who are older, disabled, or who speak English as a second language.”

The ACLU of Georgia won.

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ACLU of Georgia press conference following federal court appearance in its lawsuit that successfully challenged the signature match practice. Photos by Ana Maria Rosato communications director, ACLU of Georgia.

Ana Maria Rosato produced the ACLU of Georgia’s podcast, Liberty is Peachy.

A Deeper Dive: Anti-Voter Rights Legislation in Georgia, Parts 1 & 2
Host Kenyatta talks with Andrea Young, executive director – ACLU of Georgia, and Christopher Bruce, policy director – ACLU of Georgia about Georgia’s anti-voter rights legislation.

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