A Trump-appointed judge on Wednesday refused to block Georgia’s new election integrity law in a major blow to a left-wing group requesting a preliminary injunction.
“The Court is not persuaded by Plaintiffs’ argument for a bright line exception to Purcell because they have alleged First Amendment harm. Plaintiffs have not provided authority, nor is the Court aware of any, that would support this interpretation of the law,” U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee wrote in his ruling.
Judge Boulee said he didn’t want to change the law at the last minute because there is a runoff election for two state House districts next week.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said this is “just another in a line of frivolous lawsuits” against Georgia’s election laws. “We will continue to meet them and beat them in court.”
ABC reported:
A federal judge on Wednesday declined to block some challenged sections of Georgia’s new election law ahead of two runoff elections next week, but he didn’t rule out the possibility for future elections.
Election integrity activists had asked U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee to prohibit the state from enforcing sections of the new law that have to do with observation of elections, as well as a new deadline for requesting absentee ballots. Their request arose from one of eight federal lawsuits challenging the new law.
The targeted request that led to Wednesday’s ruling didn’t focus on the most commonly criticized parts of the law. The challenged provisions mostly have to do with monitoring or photographing parts of the election process.
