US sues Georgia in start of push to protect voting rights
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
February 06, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
US sues Georgia in start of push to protect voting rights

World+Biz

Reuters
26 June, 2021, 11:10 am
Last modified: 26 June, 2021, 11:20 am

Related News

  • From Russia with cash: Georgia booms as Russians flee Putin's war
  • Georgia's PM says committed to joining NATO
  • Trump’s hold on Republican Party tested in Georgia elections
  • EU set to receive membership bids from Georgia, Moldova: EU official
  • Georgia to impanel grand jury in probe of Trump bid to overturn 2020 election

US sues Georgia in start of push to protect voting rights

"This lawsuit is the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote," Attorney General Merrick Garland told a news conference. "We are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access and when we see violations of federal law, we will act"

Reuters
26 June, 2021, 11:10 am
Last modified: 26 June, 2021, 11:20 am
People gather during a stop on the Freedom Ride For Voting Rights at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. June 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dustin Chambers
People gather during a stop on the Freedom Ride For Voting Rights at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. June 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dustin Chambers

The US Justice Department on Friday challenged a Georgia election law that it said infringes on the rights of Black voters, as it kicked off a campaign against a wave of state actions that it said would reduce access to the ballot.

The Georgia law, which also bans the distribution of water or food to people waiting on long lines at polling places, is one of hundreds of new measures passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures this year, fueled by former President Donald Trump's false claims that his November election defeat was the result of fraud.

"This lawsuit is the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote," Attorney General Merrick Garland told a news conference. "We are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access and when we see violations of federal law, we will act."

After a sweeping Democratic-sponsored election reform bill died on a party-line vote in the Senate this week, President Joe Biden vowed to take other steps to protect voting rights.

The department will also be offering new guidance on post-election audits, following a wave of challenges to the 2020 results by Trump supporters, and issue the FBI and federal prosecutors new directions to prosecute threats to election workers.

"We are seeing a dramatic increase in menacing and violent threats, ranging from the highest administrators to volunteer poll workers," Garland said.

The Republican governors of Arizona, Florida and Iowa have also signed new voting restrictions this year, while state legislatures in Pennsylvania and Texas are trying to advance similar measures.

Those states will be battlegrounds in next year's midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.

The Georgia law, signed by Governor Brian Kemp on March 25, tightened absentee ballot identification requirements, restricted ballot drop-box use, allowed a Republican-controlled state agency to take over local voting operations.

Georgia a Battleground

The state was a key battleground in the 2020 presidential election and was also the site of a pair of January run-off elections won by Democrats that gave Biden's party a razor-thin majority in the US Senate.

Biden, who became the first Democratic presidential candidate in three decades to win Georgia, has called the new law an "atrocity."

"This lawsuit is born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia's Election Integrity Act from the start," Kemp said in a statement on Friday. "They are weaponizing the US Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda."

Trump repeatedly sought to pressure election officials in Georgia after losing the state to Biden. In a phone call to the secretary of state, Trump asked him to "find" the votes that would be needed to overturn his election loss.

He also pressured the Justice Department to oust the US Attorney in the Atlanta region. His actions are now under investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said the Georgia legislature passed the law "through a rushed process that departed from the normal practice."

The lawsuit, she said, takes aim at a number of the law's provisions, including its restrictions on absentee voting - a measure she says will push Black voters into voting in person in a state that is often faced with long lines.

She said the department is also challenging the ban on handing out food and water to voters, as well as the law's restrictions on the number of ballot drop boxes, among other measures.

"The Justice Department will not stand idly by in the face of unlawful attempts to restrict access to the ballot," she said.

The conservative-majority Supreme Court in recent years has made it more difficult to challenge both voting restrictions and the drawing of legislative districts.

In 2013, it gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act that protects minority voters and in 2019 rejected efforts to rein in electoral map manipulation by politicians aimed at entrenching one party in power, a practice known as gerrymandering. The court next week could further weaken the Voting Rights Act in a ruling on voting restrictions in Arizona.

US voting rights / Georgia

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A man walks past by a collapsed building after an earthquake in Malatya, Turkey February 6, 2023. Depo Photos via REUTERS
    Over 600 dead, many trapped under rubble as 7.9 magnitude quake rocks Turkey and Syria
  • LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment
    LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment
  • A stinking open garbage bin in the Gazipur City Corporation area causes problems to commuters. Lack of proper measures, including designated spots, manpower and equipment for dumping garbage, has made the city corporation area an open trash bin. Photo: TBS
    Waste collection fees likely to go up for Dhaka north residents

MOST VIEWED

  • A rescuer works at the site of a damaged building, following an earthquake, in rebel-held Azaz, Syria February 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
    Earthquake aftershocks to continue for days, possibly months: Expert
  • Illustration: Collected
    Russia discussed nuclear arms treaty with US ambassador - report
  • Indian billionaire Gautam Adani speaks during an inauguration ceremony after the Adani Group completed the purchase of Haifa Port earlier in January 2023, in Haifa port, Israel January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
    Adani sell-off extends; India's opposition lawmakers launch protests
  • People shop for cooking oil made from oil palms at a supermarket in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/Files
    Indonesia to suspend some palm oil export permits - senior official
  • A man sits in the remains of his home that was destroyed in the village of Pandiruppu on Sri Lanka's east coast January 6, 2005. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
    Deadliest earthquakes in recent times
  • The Adani Group headquarters in Ahmedabad. Photo: Bloomberg
    Adani Group plans to trim its capital spending plans amid Hindenburg row: Report

Related News

  • From Russia with cash: Georgia booms as Russians flee Putin's war
  • Georgia's PM says committed to joining NATO
  • Trump’s hold on Republican Party tested in Georgia elections
  • EU set to receive membership bids from Georgia, Moldova: EU official
  • Georgia to impanel grand jury in probe of Trump bid to overturn 2020 election

Features

Photo: Collected

Get your partner a lovely present this Valentine's Day

4h | Brands
Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

4h | Brands
Say it with Colours

Say it with Colours

1d | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Stage plays are going on in the digital age

Stage plays are going on in the digital age

3h | TBS Stories
Why does all the versatile roles go to Jisan?

Why does all the versatile roles go to Jisan?

3h | TBS Entertainment
ICB to withdraw Padma Bank Investment as return

ICB to withdraw Padma Bank Investment as return

20h | TBS Insight
Kiara Advani & Sidharth Malhotra's Wedding Update

Kiara Advani & Sidharth Malhotra's Wedding Update

20h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

3
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

6
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]