Republicans target weekend absentee ballot returns in Georgia
Source: The Hill
11/03/24 6:39 PM ET
Republicans are taking aim at Democratic strongholds in Georgia that opened locations this weekend for voters to return their absentee ballots in person. The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a new lawsuit Sunday after a state judge one day prior rejected allegations that deep-blue Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, was violating Georgia’s election law over its extension.
Republicans cite a provision that mandates drop boxes close when in-person early voting, which in Georgia is known as advance voting, concluded on Friday. The new case challenges both Fulton and six other Democratic-leaning counties that have similarly continued to accept hand-delivered absentee ballots through the weekend.
It was filed in federal court and claims the practice violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and its delegation of elections authority to state legislatures.
“The county’s actions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by granting special privileges to voters of those counties in violation of state law, thus arbitrarily and disparately affecting against voters and candidates in other counties,” the lawsuit states.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4969038-republicans-weekend-absentee-ballot-returns-georgia/
Link to SUIT (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25267000-rnc-georgia-weekend-absentee-ballot-retun-lawsuit
Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25267000/rnc-georgia-weekend-absentee-ballot-retun-lawsuit.pdf
This is all John Roberts' fault as a result of the disastrous decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
The H.R.4 - John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 would restore and update Sects., 4 & 5 that were discarded.
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“That refers to drop boxes. There are no drop boxes here. Drop boxes are off the table,” Farmer said.
So them trying to do an end-run around the state courts and even citing "state law", with a haphazard connection to the U.S. Constitution of "equal protection", seems idiotic because the state court already ruled that the state law didn't forbid the county's practice, and thus didn't apply.
The GOP is trying to say that people "handing in ballots to election workers" is somehow the equivalent of a "drop box" and thus had a cutoff date/time. "People" aren't "drop boxes".
