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

The Court reviewed and ruled on summary judgment briefings regarding the merits of the case and jurisdictional arguments. Summary judgment is a pre-trial motion in which one party argues the case, or certain claims in the case, should not go to trial because there are no facts that remain to be determined by a jury or fact-finder, and based on the law, the opposing party should not prevail on the case or claims. After summary judgment, the following claims remain in the case and have been presented during the trial:

• Georgia failed to provide adequate training to counties on the correct procedures for in-person absentee ballot cancellations in violation of the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause;
• The Secretary of State’s failure to maintain accurate voter rolls violates the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments; and
• Georgia’s Exact Match Policy violates the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, the Fifteenth Amendment’s ban on racial discrimination, as well as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

In a November 2021 Order, the Court ruled that Plaintiffs may present post-2018 evidence during trial. As a result of the Court’s Order, over 150 declarants who provided their voter stories from 2018 through the January 2021 runoff elections have been able to share their experiences by providing deposition testimony supporting the litigation. In total, Plaintiffs filed more than 300 declarations in the litigation. The stories of these voters, would-be voters, poll watchers, and community leaders are now part of an official court record that demonstrates how Georgia’s failures to protect voting rights have affected the lives of the State’s citizens.

The Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger trial began on April 11, 2022, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The bench trial, a trial before a judge and not a jury, is the first voting rights case to reach a full trial on the merits in this Court for more than a decade. During Plaintiffs’ case, 49 witnesses testified, including representatives from the Plaintiff churches and organizations, two dozen voters, would-be voters, and poll watchers, personnel from the Secretary of State’s Office, State Election Board members, legal experts, and other government officials. One month into trial, Defendants filed a motion asking the Court to cut the case short, ending the trial at the end of Plaintiffs’ case. But the Court declined to grant Defendants’ motion and ordered that the trial would proceed with the Defendants having to begin their presentation of evidence. The Defendants started their case on June 13, 2022, two months after the start of trial.

The Court has allowed the public to observe proceedings in the courtroom and in an overflow room where audio from the proceedings will be played. The trial is proceeding at the Richard B. Russell Federal Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia in courtroom 1907.