Department of Justice sues Georgia over voting law

Department of Justice sues Georgia over voting law | TheHill

The Department of Justice is suing the state of Georgia over its controversial new law imposing a number of restrictions on voting, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.

"Today, the Department of Justice is suing the state of Georgia," Garland said. “Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia's election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.”

The Georgia law, S.B. 202, passed in March along party lines in the span of just a few hours, imposes restrictions that voting rights groups say will fall most heavily on minorities: It sets new voter ID requirements for absentee ballots, limits drop boxes and even bars passing out food and water to those waiting in line to vote.

In general I'm confused about this GOP strategy. Why not just get better ideas so more turn out for you instead of trying to reduce turnout of your opposition?

Because if the GoP had better ideas, they wouldn’t be the GOP.

Good. Voting needs sorted out. Voting should not be hard. Ever.

What exactly are the violations? A large percentage of the GA population are PoC so I'm doubting they would enact racist voting policies.

That's hilarious. Obvious political posturing and a desperate grasp at straws.

They even admitted this is all for political gain in terms of voting, before a far right poster comes here and lies about 2020 election fraud.

• In Supreme Court, GOP attorney defends voting restrictions by saying they help Republicans win (nbcnews.com)
• Some Republicans Acknowledge Leveraging Voter ID Laws for Political Gain - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
• Republicans Admit Voter ID Laws Are Aimed at Democratic Voters (thedailybeast.com)
• Trump says higher voting levels would hurt Republicans - The Washington Post

And if them admitting it isn't enough I believe there is studies showing they are correct, more turnout is bad for (R). I'll try to find it.

No one with a working brain thinks this is about election security anymore.

@zaryia: All your sources are known to be far left leaning. I understand how you got your beliefs now.

You must be new to GA politics.

@mattbbpl: I am. I never lived there so I never cared.

@Telekill: They have a long history of disenfranchising black people.

Come on, Zaryia! You can't post rags like The Washington Post or The New York Times. Give us a YouTube video!

Aren't you the guy who continually refuses to provide sources when ever asked?

These bills are beyond obvious political posturing considering most of them are in response due to Trump's insane lie. The 2020 election was the most secure in history, as you know.

The only desperation I see are these bills in the first place. Not sure you can give me a reason for their need, with studies.

They vote overwhemingly Democrat. So that should tell you all you need to know.

Why the Georgia G.O.P.’s Voting Rollbacks Will Hit Black People Hard - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

What Georgia’s Voting Law Really Does - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Perhaps no provision in the Georgia law has received more attention than this one, which effectively bars third-party groups or anyone else who is not an election worker from providing food and water to voters waiting in line. Republicans defended the provision, saying it is enforceable only within a 150-foot radius of polling places. Civil rights groups note that it also prevents assistance “within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.”Long lines for voting in Georgia are an unfortunate reality, and are often found in the poorer, densely populated communities that tend to vote Democratic. During the primary election last June, when temperatures hovered above 80 degrees with high humidity, multiple voting locations across the state had lines in which voters waited more than two hours.Numerous studies have shown that long lines deter people from voting. According to research by the Bipartisan Policy Center, an independent research group, over 560,000 voters did not cast ballots in 2016 “because of problems related to polling place management, including long lines.” In 2014, Stephen Pettigrew, then a Ph.D. candidate in Harvard’s department of government, conducted a study that found that more than 200,000 voters did not vote in the midterm elections that year because they had faced long lines during the 2012 election.The new law does make it clear that it is legal for voters to drink from a water fountain, if one exists along the line to vote and provided they get the water themselves.

@HoolaHoopMan: Yep. There's no real point in providing sources as neither side will accept that what's being reported is impartial or factual (without injected opinion). I'm happy to pass on the sentiment.

No reason to lie, my little troll. I'm center left, like most of my sources:

NBC News - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)

New York Times - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)

Washington Post - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)

Furthermore, these sources are seen as "HIGH" factual reporting. Can you refute the actual content in the previous links I posted or will you shit-post again?

And you don't see any of the irony or hypocrisy of you immediately calling his sources suspect? You can't be this self unaware, can you?

@Stevo_the_gamer: How is that different from the Republicans who passed the measures in the first place?

That's goofy as hell. DOJ going with the canards? And they said Trump eroded faith in our institutions.

According to the left, it seems black people can't do a thing without assistance. They can't wait in lines without somebody else giving them food and water, like they are actual goddamn animals.

@vl4d_l3nin: There is no reason that someone waiting in line cannot be given water.

@HoolaHoopMan: I don't care about the irony anymore. I used to play nice. I tried having meaningful conversations and it always ended with the left making me the enemy somehow.

I'm white male. That's bad enough in today's world. I'm also a straight Christian conservative. You add all those together and I'm essentially the left's cult satan.

You can keep your victim card as I'm not playing that. The entire left can simply f**k off as I now know who my enemy is.

@Telekill: You're so hung up on being the victim that you can't converse with anyone. No one attacked you here.

The law specifically states an exception for fountains where people can get a drink and/or fill up their own bottles.

And yes, everyone can use said fountains.

@Telekill:

@Telekill: You cannot be serious

@LJS9502_basic: I knew it would trigger you that I don't accept your victim card participation trophy. As I stated, I simply know who my enemies are.

Actually you're the one who's triggered.

Seems to me the DOJ has a pretty big hill to climb here. I'm pretty sure there is no racial language in the bill, so it would seem the DOJ will have to make the argument that minorities are less capable than whites. Less capable of understanding the steps they need to take to be/remain eligible to vote. Less capable of accomplishing those steps. And less capable of tending to their own needs such as hydration and nutrition while standing in line.

I can't wait to see them make this case.

glhf, DOJ.

@comeonman: You are missing the point, these laws are not only unconstitutional but affect minorities more than whites anyway. You don’t need racial language to do that, saying there is no racial language in the bill is not a valid defense.

@LJS9502_basic: 🤣

It's like no one in this thread understands basic statistics, margins, or electoral strategy. Hell, it's spelled out in the Hofeller files, and no Republican on this board even recognizes they exist.

Explain to me how these proposed Georgia changes/bills aren't goofy as hell. Show me the studies or flew of court cases from 2020 that resulted in the need of these flood of bills. Show me the reasoning with data/facts to back it up.

Your unwillingness to do so will prove to me this is only about winning elections and pure partisan hackery, in trying to in any way gain any advantage in elections through potentially reducing any Democrat vote. I mean your leaders have literally admitted to this in court and leaked documents.

That's some persecution complex you've got going on.

"Long lines for voting in Georgia are an unfortunate reality, and are often found in the poorer, densely populated communities that tend to vote Democratic."

That was easy.

I don't get why you horrific party doesn't just get better ideas rather than trying to screw with elections. You do know how poorly USA ranks for elections right? Look, I understand that Red areas have a lower human development index and quality of life due to shit ideas, but lets not try to make our nation even more ofa laughing stock in such an important category shall we?

He's literally acting like the legal phrasing has to say the N word, even though that hasn't been the case for several court decisions that sided against discrimination. The conservatives here are down right clowns.

I mean we know for a fact that's what racial gerrymandering is about but there is 0 terminology stating that. There's no need, the effects and intent were stated.

Not surprising one bit. Voter suppression really is the name of the game for the GOP, they have even admitted as much. I should go find that source.

Stop with the persecution complex, seriously. People aren't attacking you, they are criticizing your arguments. Which is the point of a debate.

Most of us here are white males, and LJS is Catholic, and he is well respected enough around here. I don't think your identity politics worked all that well as you thought it did.

Edit: And Zaryia's sources are valid. Look not through sources as if they are left or right wing, but rather how accurately they portray events and how indepth they analyze topics. NYT has won multiple awards for its quality journalism. As for Tim Pool and the other youtubers you like so much... well...

@mattbbpl: The Hofeller files have been brought up ad nauseum and they never get a response. Then again it's the same people that say racism doesn't exist, then say they're being persecuted for being white, that ignore it.

They're lying or unintelligent. I believe a lot of the conservatives here are intelligent. So I know they are only defending these bills because it might increases their parties chances of winning elections. That's literally all this is about and they know it.

Because if this wasn't about pure politics and potentially increasing election chances, ONE of them would have posted a study or a slew of court cases by now showing why these changes were needed.

None of them will. I guarantee you.

@Maroxad: It's always amusing seeing the trio of Shapiro/Poole/Crowder acting as some right wing debate force. Especially considering how poor they are at it. Crowder's recent tantrum regarding Max Seder is a perfect example of how infantile he is. He can only name call and hang up before someone else can get a word in.

No, they are in response to voter confidence in the elections which polling shows issues among Independents and Republicans. Voter identification and strengthening safeguards to improve confidence in the elections is hardly something I would levy "desperate" at, especially following unprecedented events.

No, they are political posturing, no question. The 2020 election was the most secure in history. The fraud rate was as low as studies usually show for most years, which is infinitesimal. I know it's pure political posturing because you won't be able to put up studies or court documents showing the need for most of these bills. Voter confidence in elections eroded by a partisan lies. Trump's election lie caused these that, directly.

Lying to your base and making them think there was mass fraud, resulting in decreased voter confidence, and then making phony bills on that low confidence you created is some evil shit.

Creating 100's of election security bills on a lie is a bad idea, and not a reasonable defense for this hyper partisan garbage.

Extremely desperate. You're safeguarding against fiction. They are responding to what their base wants, and the base wants it due to a lie. Anything for potentially increased chances.

And what unprecedented events, Trump's election lie?

Hours waiting in line to vote is a disgrace in itself. Of course when you don’t want people to vote it is an absolute win.

use water fountains? Like they won’t fail or be devoid of maintenance.

Shapiro is skilled at debate, but not necessarily skilled at getting to the truth. His time in law school has paid off. But I think the left wing debaters are slowly learning to counter his ****.

His usual schtick is loaded questions and strawmen, trying to trap people into defending indefensible positions. But people are learning to play around that now, and that is why... well we see him being turned into a punching bag. Target practice.

Like it or not, a lot of Trump fans here love to adopt his rhetoric. Such as some of the stuff we have seen in this thread.

As for the ohter two, yeah they suck. They basically prey on the inexperienced, except Dim Fool who seems to get his ass handed to him by just about anyone.

We just went through this yesterday. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Quit smoking so much dope, lib!

The South is shit due to culture, not politics. For it's entire history, it had majority seats Democrat in the senate until the 80's, and a majority Democratic seats in the house until the 90's, and it wasn't any better during those times.

We can agree to disagree.

I'm not surprised by independents and republican polling confidence, or lack there-of in cases, especially following unprecedented events, or large events, like the pandemic for example. Not to mention of course the shut-downs, late election law changes, lack of confidence in the media, overt electioneering from social platforms, failures of government bureaucracy, ballot harvesting, and large shifts towards mail-in voting in record numbers with weak requirements in the means of verification, especially signature matching.

Well this can not be said on the facts and data. The 2020 election was the most secure in history and fraud was at it's typical infinitesimal rate. We can't disagree on that, that's true.

Just because many Republicans and some Independents believe something proven to be false due to a lie that was spread does not mean a flood of bills is suddenly needed.

With very little fraud as an outcome after all of those things you listed. Making their concerns unfounded, and mostly brought about from the GOP lie.

Spread a lie to make bogus bills, villainous. But hey, anything for better election chances right?

In Supreme Court, GOP attorney defends voting restrictions by saying they help Republicans win (nbcnews.com)

And what did those democrats stand for?

Because Southern Democrats are not necessarily the same as Northern Democrats. ESPECIALLY prior to the 80's. Where party was less affiliated with ideology than it is now.

I'm center left and I don't smoke dope.

Conservative Democrats. Throughout history.

The more you learn.

Anyway, thanks for ignoring most of my post regarding this thread. I knew you would not be capable of bringing a study or court documentation to prove why these bogus bills are needed. Showing it's all about partisan hackery for you. A win at any cost! Even keeping USA's election ranking shit tier. Our turnout is trash and a lot of that is due to dumb restrictions that make 0 sense and can't be backed up with data.

Again, the bills are in response to confidence in the elections among independents and republicans following unprecedented times-for some of reasons I listed. If you disagree with politicians remedying said confidence by legislating, then go out and bolster your base to change who the politician is. What Georgia does, or does not do, makes literally no difference to me.

Well, Mitchell McConnell did punt this to the DOJ the other day saying it's illegal to target race in enacting voter suppression measures then someone would or could do something about it... well, guess that gave the DOJ the cover it needed.

I am also curious about total scope of this, because it's also party related, and race and elections and redistricting has been central to GOP gerrymandering for years:

So, for the many Republican voters in this thread - can any of you justify the introduction of this law?

I'm seeing a lot of attacks and veiled racism, but nobody actually explaining why this law needs to exist.