The Justice Department is dropping a Biden-era challenge to a Georgia election integrity law passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Monday.
Bondi said that her department would no longer seek to block Georgia from enforcing SB 202, a Republican-backed measure that tightened absentee voting requirements. After the implementation of the law, the Biden administration sued to block it from taking effect, alleging that it targeted black voters.
“Contrary to the Biden Administration’s false claims of suppression, black voter turnout actually increased under SB 202,” Bondi said. “Georgians deserve secure elections, not fabricated claims of false voter suppression meant to divide us. Americans can be confident that this Department of Justice will protect their vote and never play politics with election integrity.”
The law, passed in March 2021, mandated a voter ID requirement for absentee voting, required election workers not to stop counting the votes after they’ve begun, and limited the availability of ballot drop boxes to only inside early voting locations during business hours.
At the time, President Joe Biden decried the law, calling it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century” and “a blatant attack on the Constitution.”
The law induced corporate backlash from companies like Coca-Cola and Delta. It even prompted Major League Baseball to yank the All-Star Game from Atlanta, costing the state tens of millions of dollars.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that the decision from the Justice Department was a win for Georgia voters.
“This reaffirms that the Election Integrity Act stands on solid legal ground,” he said Monday. “Our commitment has always been to ensure fair and secure elections for every Georgian, despite losing an All-Star game and the left’s boycott of Georgia as a result of commonsense election law.”
Raffensperger also asked for the release of any documents showing coordination between Biden’s DOJ and outside groups on the case.
While many Democrats claimed that the law would depress voter turnout, Georgia saw record day one early vote turnout in 2024 when there were 328,000 ballots cast, a substantial increase from the previous 2020 record of 136,000.
Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley praised the DOJ for dismissing the case.
“This is a victory for election integrity and a defeat for every Democrat who lied about Georgia’s election law,” he said. “The RNC has been proudly fighting to defend SB202 ever since it was passed, which is why we intervened as soon as the Biden Justice Department filed this lawsuit. States like Georgia should be praised, not punished, for making their elections more secure.”
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[[{“value”:”
The Justice Department is dropping a Biden-era challenge to a Georgia election integrity law passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Monday.
Bondi said that her department would no longer seek to block Georgia from enforcing SB 202, a Republican-backed measure that tightened absentee voting requirements. After the implementation of the law, the Biden administration sued to block it from taking effect, alleging that it targeted black voters.
“Contrary to the Biden Administration’s false claims of suppression, black voter turnout actually increased under SB 202,” Bondi said. “Georgians deserve secure elections, not fabricated claims of false voter suppression meant to divide us. Americans can be confident that this Department of Justice will protect their vote and never play politics with election integrity.”
The law, passed in March 2021, mandated a voter ID requirement for absentee voting, required election workers not to stop counting the votes after they’ve begun, and limited the availability of ballot drop boxes to only inside early voting locations during business hours.
At the time, President Joe Biden decried the law, calling it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century” and “a blatant attack on the Constitution.”
The law induced corporate backlash from companies like Coca-Cola and Delta. It even prompted Major League Baseball to yank the All-Star Game from Atlanta, costing the state tens of millions of dollars.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that the decision from the Justice Department was a win for Georgia voters.
“This reaffirms that the Election Integrity Act stands on solid legal ground,” he said Monday. “Our commitment has always been to ensure fair and secure elections for every Georgian, despite losing an All-Star game and the left’s boycott of Georgia as a result of commonsense election law.”
Raffensperger also asked for the release of any documents showing coordination between Biden’s DOJ and outside groups on the case.
While many Democrats claimed that the law would depress voter turnout, Georgia saw record day one early vote turnout in 2024 when there were 328,000 ballots cast, a substantial increase from the previous 2020 record of 136,000.
Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley praised the DOJ for dismissing the case.
“This is a victory for election integrity and a defeat for every Democrat who lied about Georgia’s election law,” he said. “The RNC has been proudly fighting to defend SB202 ever since it was passed, which is why we intervened as soon as the Biden Justice Department filed this lawsuit. States like Georgia should be praised, not punished, for making their elections more secure.”
“}]]
