The Justice Department is filing a lawsuit against the state of Georgia to try and overturn a new voting law that Democrats allege discriminates against minorities, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.
The DOJ’s suit takes aim at Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, which was signedinto law by Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., in March after it was passed by the Republican-led state legislature.
The action is the first major voting rights case the DOJ has filed under the Biden administration. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill had been briefed on the matter, the Washington Post said.
This lawsuit is the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote,” Garland said.
Kemp issued a statement saying: “This lawsuit is born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from the start.”
Republican-led state governments across the country have been seeking to impose broad new voting laws in the wake of the 2020 election. Former President Donald Trump and allies have said voter fraud led to President Joe Biden’s victory.
Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats’ expansive overhaul of U.S. election laws from advancing to the chamber floor.
The Post said Georgia’s law imposes new limits on the use of absentee ballots, makes it a crime for outside groups to provide food and water to voters waiting at polling stations, and hands greater control over election administration to the state legislature.
“The complaint alleges that the state enacted those restrictions with the purpose of denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of race of color,” Garland said.
Democrats and voting rights groups say the new Georgia law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color.