Advocacy Group Calls on Legislature to Fix House Bill 316
ATLANTA – After its advocacy and litigation efforts successfully kept approximately 26,500 on the voting rolls, Fair Fight Action today announced a fundraising campaign to restore purged voters and add new voters in Georgia. Fair Fight Action further called on Georgia Republicans to fix state House Bill 316 to make explicitly clear that they intended the remedies against unlawful purges to include all Georgia voters. In recent weeks, a federal court expressed “serious concerns” about the state’s recent purge; and the Secretary of State admitted to more than 22,000 errors in the process.
“Fair Fight Action stopped a purge of more than 26,500 voters, but much more work remains,” said Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo. “We intend to invest in and raise funds to support civic organizations that do voter registration work in Georgia — groups that will help reinstate voters to the rolls and register new voters. We encourage all Georgians to check their registration status regularly, and to re-register if their voter registration is not up-to-date. Just last year, the General Assembly gave voters a 2-year reprieve on the state’s flawed ‘use it or lose it’ provision. But the Secretary of State ignored the will of the legislature. The legislative branch has the obligation to quickly fix House Bill 316 and clarify that their grant of extra time was intended for all Georgians. The federal court clearly put the responsibility to fix this problem at the state level; and next week, the legislature should do its job when it comes back into session. Fair Fight Action will continue to litigate the constitutionality of ‘use it or lose it’ purges through our pending case in federal court, and we will continue to fight so that no Georgian loses their right to vote simply because they have made the choice not to vote in recent elections.”
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Paid for by Fair Fight Action