Stacey Abrams’ Organization is Hit by a Lawsuit in Attempt to Increase Voter Turnout

• A judge ruled in favor of a Stacey Abrams-founded group that filed a lawsuit for voting rights.
• Judge Steve Jones stated that Georgia’s Exact Match absentee ballot system did not amount to racial disparity.
• Abrams’ gubernatorial race opponent, Gov. Brain Kemp praised the ruling.

After a judge ruled that Georgia’s election process was not in violation of the US Constitution and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a Stacey Abrams-backed-organization lost a federal suit Friday night.

In 2018, weeks after Abrams lost her bid for governor to Brian Kemp, Fair Fight Action, Inc. — a group founded by Abrams — filed a suit alleging there were “serious and unconstitutional flaws in Georgia’s [voting]Process” and claimed that Georgia’s voting requirements infringed the VRA and the 1st, 14th and 15th Amendments.

US District Court Judge Steve Jones ruled against Defendant Secretary-of State Brad Raffensperger. In his 288-page decisionAlthough “Georgia’s electoral system is imperfect”, the challenged practices do not violate the constitution or the VRA. 

Raffensperger The ruling was celebratedThe statement said that it was a win for all Georgia election officials who devote their lives to secure, accessible, and safe elections.

The main argument in the case was whether Georgia’s Exact-Match absentee voter system was racial disparaging. Or, absentee votes would be suspended if the voter registration forms and voter identification forms had identical names and addresses.

The Exact Match system suspended 50,000 absentee votes, 70% of which belonged Black voters, prior to the 2018 election. According to the Washington Post. 

Jones stated that Fair Fight Action didn’t provide any “direct evidence” of a voter being unable to vote because of the system.

Jones wrote that Jones found that plaintiffs failed to prove that Exact Match MIDR, Citizenship Verification laws or policies had racially discriminatory intent.

Abrams will once again run for Georgia governor Against KempKemp has raised $25 millions more than Kemp, who has raised $49 Million so far. A Fox News poll showed Kemp leading Abrams. By 7 percentage points

Kemp praised the ruling during a Statement to the Associated PressAbrams was charged with “hoping to wrongfully use the legal system for her political ends.”

Abrams said to the AP that the ruling was not the preferred outcome, but that the conduct of the trial and the preceding cases and legislative action represent a hard-won win for voters who endured long lines and burdensome date-of-birth requirements as well as exact match laws that disproportionately affect Black and Brown voters.”

Abrams also stated on Twitter that she would expand the right to vote if she wins her race for governor.

—Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) October 1, 2022

Insider reached out to Kemp and Abrams representatives but they did not immediately reply.