Voting Rights Litigation Tracker

Filed: April 1, 2021

Plaintiffs: Asian Amer­ic­ans Advan­cing Justice-Atlanta, Indi­vidual Voters

Defend­ants: GA Secret­ary of State, Vice Chair of the State Elec­tion Board, Members of the State Elec­tion Board, County Boards of Elec­tions and Regis­tra­tion, Members of County Boards of Elec­tions and Regis­tra­tion, County Elec­tions Direct­ors

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous provi­sions of Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions includ­ing restrict­ing access to drop boxes, impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments, and making vote-by-mail more diffi­cult, alleging that the law unduly burdens the right to vote in viol­a­tion of the 1^st and 14^th Amend­ments, and inten­tion­ally discrim­in­ates on the basis of race in viol­a­tion of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 14^th and 15th Amend­ments. The case has been consol­id­ated with other related cases chal­len­ging S.B. 202 in In re: Geor­gia Senate Bill 202.

Key Docu­ments:

• Amended complaint filed April 27, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: May 17, 2021

Plaintiffs: Coali­tion for Good Governance, Members of County Boards of Elec­tions, Jack­son County Demo­cratic Commit­tee, Geor­gia Advan­cing Progress Polit­ical Action Commit­tee, Members of Polit­ical Parties/Voters/Elec­tion Volun­teers

Defend­ants: GA Governor, GA Secret­ary of State, Members of the State Elec­tion Board

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous provi­sions of Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions includ­ing impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments and short­en­ing the period for apply­ing for absentee ballots, among others, alleging vari­ous viol­a­tions of the 1st and 14th Amend­ments to the U.S. Consti­tu­tion.

Key Docu­ments:

• Amended complaint filed June 11, 2021
• Motion for prelim­in­ary injunc­tion denied July 7, 2021
• Order grant­ing motion for prelim­in­ary injunc­tion in part entered August 20, 2021, enjoin­ing the state from imple­ment­ing a photo­graphy ban of completed ballots
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: April 27, 2021

Plaintiffs: Concerned Black Clergy of Metro­pol­itan Atlanta, Inc., Justice Initi­at­ive, Inc., Samuel Dewitt Proc­tor Confer­ence, Inc., Mijente, Inc., Sankofa United Church of Christ Limited, New Birth Mission­ary Baptist Church, Inc., Metro­pol­itan Atlanta Baptist Minis­ters Union, Inc., First Congreg­a­tional Church, United Church of Christ Incor­por­ated, Geor­gia Latino Alli­ance for Human Rights, Inc., Faith in Action Network, Greater Works Minis­tries Network, Inc., Exousia Light­house Inter­na­tional C.M., Inc.

Defend­ants: GA Secret­ary of State, Vice Chair of the State Elec­tion Board, Members of the State Elec­tion Board

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous provi­sions of Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions includ­ing restrict­ing access to drop boxes and mobile voting units and impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments. Plaintiffs allege viol­a­tions of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the 1st, 14th, and 15th Amend­ments to the U.S. Consti­tu­tion, and Title II of the Amer­ic­ans with Disab­il­it­ies Act, in that the law was inten­ded to discrim­in­ate and has the result of discrim­in­at­ing on the basis of race or color, unduly burdens the right to vote, abridges the free­dom of speech and expres­sion, and discrim­in­ates against voters with disab­il­it­ies. The case has been consol­id­ated with other related cases chal­len­ging S.B. 202 in In re: Geor­gia Senate Bill 202.

Key Docu­ments:

• Complaint filed April 27, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: Novem­ber 26, 2018

Plaintiffs: Fair Fight Action, Care in Action, Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, Geor­gia, Bacon­ton Mission­ary Baptist Church, Virginia-High­land Church, the Sixth Epis­copal District

Defend­ants: GA Secret­ary of State, Members of the State Elec­tion Board, State Elec­tion Board

Chal­len­ging: Exact Match Policy, Voter List Main­ten­ance, Absentee Ballot Cancel­la­tions

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous policies regard­ing elec­tion admin­is­tra­tion in Geor­gia, includ­ing the state’s exact match policy for veri­fy­ing voters’ iden­ti­fic­a­tion, its list main­ten­ance proced­ures, and its proced­ures for cancel­ling absentee ballots. The complaint alleges viol­a­tions of the 1st, 14th, and 15th Amend­ments and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Trial began on April 11, 2022.

Key Docu­ments:

• Second amended complaint filed Decem­ber 3, 2020
• Order grant­ing and deny­ing in part Defend­ants’ motion for summary judg­ment entered Febru­ary 16, 2021
• Second order grant­ing and deny­ing in part Defend­ants’ motion for summary judg­ment entered March 31, 2021
• Order deny­ing Defend­ants’ renewed motion for summary judg­ment entered Novem­ber 15, 2021

Filed: Decem­ber 23, 2020

Plaintiffs: Fair Fight Inc., Indi­vidual Voters

Defend­ants: True the Vote, Inc., Cath­er­ine Engel­brecht (Founder and Exec­ut­ive Director of True the Vote), Derek Somerville, Mark Davis, Mark Willi­ams, Ron John­son, James Cooper, John Does 1–10

Chal­len­ging: Voter Intim­id­a­tion

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge defend­ants’ campaign to “pree­mpt­ively chal­lenge 364,541 poten­tially ineligible voters” across Geor­gia based on the U.S. Postal Service’s “National Change of Address” registry. Addi­tion­ally, defend­ants have threatened to publicly release the names of the voters they claim are ineligible, thus subject­ing those indi­vidu­als to threats and harass­ment and have offered a $1 million reward fund to “incentiv­ize” indi­vidu­als to report suspec­ted “elec­tion malfeas­ance.” The complaint alleges viol­a­tions of section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act (the Anti-Intim­id­a­tion provi­sion) in that defend­ants’ actions attempt to or actu­ally “intim­id­ate, threaten, or coerce” certain indi­vidu­als from “voting or attempt­ing to vote.”

Key Docu­ments:

• Motion for tempor­ary restrain­ing order filed Decem­ber 29, 2020
• Motion for a tempor­ary restrain­ing order denied Janu­ary 1, 2020
• Coun­ter­claims filed by defend­ants Janu­ary 8, 2021
• Amended complaint filed March 22, 2021
• Order dismiss­ing defend­ants’ coun­ter­claims entered on August 17

Filed: Decem­ber 23, 2020

Plaintiffs: Indi­vidual Voters

Defend­ants: Indi­vidu­als Involved in Ballot Processing

Chal­len­ging: 2020 Elec­tion Results

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge defend­ants’ fail­ure to provide reques­ted voting records and allege fraud and irreg­u­lar­it­ies in the Novem­ber 2020 elec­tion. The complaint alleges viol­a­tions of the Geor­gia Consti­tu­tion, in that defend­ants failed to ensure that absentee ballots were treated in accord­ance with state law and in a uniform manner through­out the county and through­out the state, thus depriving plaintiffs of equal protec­tion and due process, and that voters for third party candid­ates were treated differ­ently than simil­arly situ­ated voters. The trial court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims on Octo­ber 13, 2021, and plaintiffs have filed notices of appeal to the state’s court of appeals and supreme court.

Key Docu­ments:

• Third amended peti­tion filed July 2, 2021
• Order stay­ing case issued on Septem­ber 20, 2021
• Order grant­ing Respond­ents’ motion to dismiss issued on Octo­ber 13, 2021
• Notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals of the State of Geor­gia filed Novem­ber 10, 2021
• Notice of appeal to the Supreme Court of Geor­gia filed Novem­ber 12, 2021

Filed: March 28, 2021

Plaintiffs: Geor­gia State Confer­ence of the NAACP, Geor­gia Coali­tion for the People’s Agenda, Inc., League of Women Voters of Geor­gia, Inc., Galeo Latino Community Devel­op­ment Fund, Inc., Common Cause, Lower Musko­gee Creek Tribe, The Urban League of Greater Atlanta, Inc.

Defend­ants: GA Secret­ary of State, Members of the State Elec­tion Board, Chair­men of the Fulton, Gwin­nett, & Cobb County Regis­tra­tion and Elec­tions Board, Members of the County Regis­tra­tion and Elec­tions Boards

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous provi­sions of Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions includ­ing restrict­ing access to drop boxes and mobile voting units and impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments and a line warm­ing ban. Plaintiffs allege viol­a­tions of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 1st, 14th, and 15th Amend­ments to the U.S. Consti­tu­tion, in that the law is inten­ded to discrim­in­ate and has the effect of discrim­in­at­ing against voters on account of race or color, unduly burdens the right to vote and abridges the free­dom of speech and asso­ci­ation. The case has been consol­id­ated with other related cases chal­len­ging S.B. 202 in In re: Geor­gia Senate Bill 202.

Key Docu­ments:

• First amended complaint filed May 28, 2021
• United States’ state­ment of interest filed July 26, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: March 25, 2021

Plaintiffs: The New Geor­gia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, Rise, Inc., Indi­vidual Voters

Defend­ants: GA Secret­ary of State, Vice Chair of the State Elec­tion Board, Members of the State Elec­tion Board, County Boards of Elec­tions and Regis­tra­tion, Members of County Boards of Elec­tions and Regis­tra­tion, Chair­men, Secret­ar­ies, Super­in­tend­ents of County Elec­tions Boards, Fulton County Soli­citor General, Dougherty County District Attor­ney

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous provi­sions of Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions includ­ing restrict­ing access to drop boxes and mobile voting units and impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments and a line warm­ing ban. Plaintiffs allege viol­a­tions of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 1st and 14th Amend­ments to the U.S. Consti­tu­tion, in that the law has the effect of discrim­in­at­ing against voters on account of race or color and unduly burdens the funda­mental right to vote. The case has been consol­id­ated with other related cases chal­len­ging S.B. 202 in In re: Geor­gia Senate Bill 202.

Key Docu­ments:

• Amended complaint filed May 17, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: March 29, 2021

Plaintiffs: Sixth District of the African Meth­od­ist Epis­copal Church, Geor­gia Muslim Voter Project, Women Watch Afrika, Latino Community Fund Geor­gia, Delta Sigma Theta Soror­ity, Inc., The Arc of the United States, Geor­gia Adapt, Geor­gia Advocacy Office, South­ern Chris­tian Lead­er­ship Confer­ence         

Defend­ants: GA Governor, GA Secret­ary of State, State Elec­tion Board, Members of the State Elec­tion Board, County Regis­tra­tion and Elec­tions Boards, Direct­ors/Super­visors/Members of County Regis­tra­tion and Elec­tions Boards, County Chief Regis­trars

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge vari­ous provi­sions of Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions includ­ing restrict­ing access to drop boxes and mobile voting units and impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments and a line warm­ing ban. Plaintiffs allege viol­a­tions of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 1st, 14th, and 15th Amend­ments to the U.S. Consti­tu­tion, in that the law is inten­ded to discrim­in­ate and has the result of discrim­in­at­ing on account of race or color, unduly burdens the right to vote, and infringes on plaintiffs’ rights of speech and expres­sion. The case has been consol­id­ated with other related cases chal­len­ging S.B. 202 in In re: Geor­gia Senate Bill 202.

Key Docu­ments:

• Amended complaint filed May 24, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: June 25, 2021

Plaintiffs: United States of Amer­ica

Defend­ants: State of Geor­gia, GA State Elec­tion Board, GA Secret­ary of State

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: The United States sued the State of Geor­gia, chal­len­ging Senate Bill 202, an omni­bus law contain­ing several voting restric­tions such as restrict­ing access to drop boxes and impos­ing new iden­ti­fic­a­tion require­ments and a line warm­ing ban. The federal govern­ment alleges viol­a­tions of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, in that the law was adop­ted with the purpose of and has the effect of deny­ing or abridging Black citizens’ equal access to the polit­ical process. The case has been consol­id­ated with other related cases chal­len­ging S.B. 202 in In re: Geor­gia Senate Bill 202.

Key Docu­ments:

• Complaint filed June 25, 2021
• Amicus brief of Wash­ing­ton DC and 21 states in support of Plaintiff’s oppos­i­tion to motions to dismiss filed August 13, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed: April 7, 2021

Plaintiffs: VoteAm­er­ica, Voter Parti­cip­a­tion Center, Center for Voter Inform­a­tion

Defend­ants: GA Secret­ary of State, Vice Chair of the State Elec­tion Board, Members of the State Elec­tion Board

Chal­len­ging: GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion: Plaintiffs chal­lenge provi­sions of Senate Bill 202 that restrict volun­teers’ abil­ity to assist voters with absentee ballot applic­a­tions in vari­ous ways, alleging viol­a­tions of the 1st and 14th Amend­ments to the U.S. Consti­tu­tion, in that the law abridges the plaintiffs’ rights of speech and asso­ci­ation and is vague and over­broad.

Key Docu­ments:

• Complaint filed April 7, 2021
• Order deny­ing motions to dismiss entered Decem­ber 9, 2021

Filed:            May 2, 2022

Plaintiffs:       Vote.org, Geor­gia Alli­ance for Retired Amer­ic­ans, Prior­it­ies USA

Defend­ants:  GA State Elec­tion Board, Members of the GA State Elec­tion Board, Members of the Fulton County Regis­tra­tion and Elec­tions Board

Chal­len­ging:  GA S.B. 202

Descrip­tion:   Plaintiffs chal­lenge Senate Bill 202's wet signa­ture require­ment for absentee ballot applic­a­tions. The complaint argues that the require­ment viol­ates the mater­i­al­ity provi­sion of the Civil Rights Act.

Key Docu­ments:

Complaint filed May 2, 2022