The members of the Republican Party stand out against the logo of the Republican National Committee (RNC) at the annual winter meeting of the RNC in a hotel in Washington.
Jason Reed | Reuters
Two national republican party organizations rushed to the defense in a Georgia Justice Department lawsuit alleging that recently passed electoral law violated electoral protection for minorities.
The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senate Committee said in a press release on Thursday that they are intervening to defend Georgia against the “politically motivated lawsuit”.
President Joe Biden and other Democrats “are arming the Justice Department by trying to empower the state of Georgia to make its elections less secure,” RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement in the press release.
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Republicans argue that SB 202, the election revision bill signed by Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp in March, provides reasonable voter protection in law.
But Attorney General Merrick Garland, who announced the lawsuit in late June, accused Peach State of enacting the law “with the aim of denying or curtailing the suffrage of Black Georgians based on race or color.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland attends a press conference to announce that the Justice Department will announce that on Jan.
Ken Cedeno | Reuters
The law has reportedly enacted a number of restrictive and potentially confusing measures that critics claim will affect voter turnout, especially in democratic and minority urban and suburban counties.
For example, the DOJ’s complaint states that the law introduces new restrictions and additional steps on postal voting – changes related to a “dramatic increase in postal voting by black Georgians” in the 2020 election cycle.
The historically republican state collapsed in a big surprise for Biden over former President Donald Trump. Trump has never made concessions to Biden and has repeatedly made the false claim that the presidential race was stolen from him through widespread fraud. The Democrats also won the state’s two US Senate seats in the runoff elections in early January, giving the party an effective majority in the chamber.
Following the 2020 elections, which ended with Democratic control of the White House and Congress, Republicans in numerous states tabled electoral reform proposals that reflected portions of Georgian law.
Pastor Timothy McDonald III speaks during a rally against the state’s new election restrictions outside the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, June 8, 2021.
Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters
In her statement Thursday morning, McDaniel referred to last week’s Supreme Court ruling that upheld two Republican-backed Arizona voting rules that critics labeled discriminatory.
The court said in a 6: 3 opinion shared by the Conservative majority of the three Liberal judges that the Arizona rules do not violate Section 2 of the Suffrage Act, which requires that elections be open to people of all races alike.
“The Democrats in Washington are fighting heart and soul to remove the states from all control over local elections and Georgia is their number one target,” said NRSC Chairman and Senator from Florida Rick Scott in the press release.
“The Justice Department’s frivolous, politicized lawsuit aims to overturn common sense, a popular law that would protect the voice of every Georgian, encourage more elections, and restore confidence in the process,” Scott said.
“Republicans will not stand for such abusive assault by the DOJ and the NRSC is proud to join the RNC in this worthwhile struggle,” he said.
