Lawrenceville, GA – Today the League of Women Voters of Georgia along with other voting rights advocates, notified the Georgia Secretary of State and Gwinnett County that the county has been in violation of state and federal law by illegally sustaining pre-election challenges to the eligibility of registered voters. The League, the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, Gwinnett County Branch of the NAACP, GALEO Latino Community Development Fund, Inc., Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Inc., and Common Cause sent the notice letter as a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit under the NVRA.

“The mass voter challenge language in SB 202 has emboldened groups to challenge the rights of tens of thousands of Georgia citizens to vote in the days leading up to the November 8th election,” said Susannah Scott, president of the League of Women Voters of Georgia. “This overwhelms local elections offices as they work to prepare for the election and will have a chilling effect on voters who are uncertain of their rights in the face of these challenges. The Gwinnett County Board of Registration and Elections must defend the rights of Gwinnett voters in the face of these undemocratic challenges."

The notice letter explains that any action by the Gwinnett County Board of Elections and Registration (BORE) to sustain residency-based mass challenges without rigorous individualized examination fails to comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).  Such actions also contravene the NVRA’s ban on systematically removing voters from election rolls within 90 days of an election.

The thousands of challenges to registered voters are an intended consequence of the enactment of SB 202, Georgia’s 2021 omnibus voter suppression bill. The bill creates more barriers to the ballot box, particularly in counties, such as Gwinnett, with significant populations of Black, Latinx, AAPI, and other voters of color, and in counties with increasingly diverse electorates. 

Eligible Gwinnett County voters who have received a notification from the BORE that their voter eligibility has been challenged should contact the Gwinnett County Board of Registration and Elections and its election staff directly as soon as possible. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, (LCCRUL) who sent the letter on behalf of the coalition, will continue to monitor developments and remains committed to protecting the rights of Georgia voters.

Read the letter LCCRUL sent to the BORE and the Georgia Secretary of State here. 

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