ATLANTA–Today, the ACLU of Georgia, Southern Poverty Law Center, Campaign Legal Center, Brennan Center For Justice, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and Fair Elections Center sent a letter to election officials statewide to provide guidance on voter challenges that are becoming increasingly common as we get closer to the November general election. We encourage those officials and attorneys representing them to carefully consult the guidance.
“Voter challenges have unfortunately been weaponized around the state to limit access to the ballot. We hope that our guidance will be helpful in ensuring a smooth election cycle for voters and our hard working local elections officials,” said Caitlin May, Voting Rights Staff Attorney, ACLU of Georgia.
The ACLU of Georgia has offered guidance on the following topics:
- Changes to voter challenges due to Senate Bill 189
- Role of poll workers
- Challenged status
- Use of challenged ballots
- What probable cause means
- Mass challenges
- Timing of challenges
- Reject post-election challenges
- Challenge format
- Who can challenge
- Challenge justifications
There are state and federal laws that govern voter challenges. However, tens of thousands of these challenges have been brought before boards of elections during recent election cycles in Gwinnett, Cobb and Forsyth counties by third-party groups seeking to circumvent the strict processes that protect the accuracy of voter rolls. Thankfully, a majority of these baseless challenges were rejected.
The ACLU of Georgia will continue to monitor and challenge any unlawful actions in order to ensure the right to vote for all eligible Georgians.