Fighting Back for Voters: Fair Fight v. Raffensperger

Fair Fight is challenging Georgia’s unconstitutional elections policies and procedures in a historic federal lawsuit against the Georgia Secretary of State and Board of Elections.

Legal Action

The Latest

Battle over Georgia voting rights escalates in federal court

Article excerpt: U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled against the state government’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit May 30, allowing the case to move forward.

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ABOUT OUR CASE

The fight for voting rights and freedom from systemic voter suppression must happen on multiple fronts: advocacy, legislation, and litigation.

The Constitution of the United States and other federal laws already guarantee many voter protections not only to voters in Georgia, but to voters across the country.

During the 2018 elections, and building on a long-history of suppressing the right to vote, the Secretary of State and the State Elections Board of Georgia violated these federal voting-rights laws. They created and enforced unconstitutional and otherwise unlawful policies and engaged in gross mismanagement. This led to an election that deprived Georgia citizens, particularly citizens of color, of their fundamental right to vote. To enforce these federal protections and correct these violations of federal law, Fair Fight turned to the courtroom.

To fix these unacceptable violations of Georgians’ voting rights, guaranteed by federal law, our lawsuit demands definitive improvements to the Georgia elections system for three stages of voting:

1Voter Registration

2Ballot Access

3Ballot Counting

Our lawsuit, initially filed in November 2018, seeks to hold the Georgia government accountable for an elections system that violates various rights of Georgia voters under federal law, including:

  • The Fundamental Right to Vote in the First Amendment;
  • The Ban on Racial Discrimination in Voting in the Fifteenth Amendment;
  • The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment;
  • Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and
  • The Help America Vote Act of 2002.

Fair Fight is asking the court to implement a remedy that includes, among other demands:

  • Ending large-scale purges of the voter rolls under the “use it or lose it” policy
  • Ending Georgia’s “exact match” policy
  • Ending the use of Georgia’s insecure voting machines, through hand-marked paper ballots that voters can verify
  • Ensuring uniform election procedures in all 159 counties of Georgia
  • Ensuring that absentee and provisional ballots are treated/counted fairly and consistently
  • Ensuring efficient, just, and fair elections across Georgia

This lawsuit, while focused on transforming the unacceptable, unlawful, and unconstitutional elections system in Georgia, is one that Fair Fight believes will further pave the way for free and fair elections nationwide. When our right to vote is imperiled in any state, all Americans are threatened.

FOLLOW THE CASE

Voter Statements

To illustrate our claims and shine a spotlight on the broken elections system of Georgia, Fair Fight has gathered statements from hundreds of Georgia voters in every region of our state.

If you are a Georgia voter who is interested in sharing the story of the issues you experienced while voting, or attempting to vote, in the 2018 election cycle, please share your story

Press Releases

Media Coverage

The lawsuit challenging Georgia’s entire elections system, explained

More than two months after voting rights groups filed the suit, Georgia elections officials are calling for it to be dismissed.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Ordered to Answer Questions About Election Lawsuit

A federal judge has ordered Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to answer questions about his statements on minority voter registration and his oversight of election investigations.

Pulpit power: Churches join Abrams group’s elections lawsuit

The new additions are Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual home of Martin Luther King Jr.; Baconton Missionary Church; Virginia-Highland Church; and The Sixth Episcopal District, which represents more than 500 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia.

Judge: Lawsuit over Georgia voting issues can move forward

A lawsuit challenging Georgia’s election system can move forward, a judge ruled Thursday in the legal case filed by a group founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

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