Abrams Declares Victory After Losing Voter Suppression Lawsuit
Obama-appointed federal judge rejects every claim made by Abrams and her surrogates.
by David Catron
October 2, 2022, 10:57 PM
After nearly four years and millions of wasted taxpayer funds, U.S District Judge Steve C. Jones ruled on Friday that Georgia’s election practices had violated neither the Constitution nor the Voting Rights Act (VRA) during the 2018 gubernatorial election. Shortly after losing that election to Republican Brian Kemp, Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams famously blamed her loss on voter suppression and filed a federal lawsuit against Georgia’s Secretary of State and Election Board via her advocacy group, Fair Fight Action, Inc. Judge Jones finally put the Peach State out of its misery by ruling in favor of Georgia on all counts.
Statements from various Georgia officials made it clear that they considered this lawsuit little more than a protracted publicity stunt that never had a prayer of succeeding on the merits. As Gov. Kemp put it: “Judge Jones’ ruling exposes this legal effort for what it really is: a tool wielded by a politician hoping to wrongfully weaponize the legal system to further her own political goals.” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger phrased it as follows: “Stolen election & voter suppression claims by Stacey Abrams were nothing but poll-tested rhetoric not supported by facts & evidence.” Yet Abrams has taken to Twitter to indulge her penchant for characterizing defeats as victories:
The conduct of this trial and preceding cases and legislative actions represent a hard-won victory for voters who endured long lines, burdensome date of birth requirements and exact match laws that disproportionately impact Black and Brown voters … The work over the last 10 years has been to advance fairness in our democracy that is not linked to ‘the status of minority life in Georgia.’ There’s no denying voter suppression under Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger. This 288-page order spells out the cost of their actions.
But Judge Jones said nothing of the kind in his ruling. For example, he rejected the Abrams/Fair Fight claim that the “exact match” policy violates the fundamental right to vote as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. In reality, a voter who fails the exact match test is merely placed on an MIDR [Missing Identification Required] list, and is still considered a registered voter. Thus, Jones ruled, “The Court finds that Plaintiffs have failed to prove that the burdens imposed by MIDR outweigh the State’s interests in preventing fraud and complying with HAVA [Help America Vote Act]. Accordingly, MIDR does not violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
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https://spectator.org/abrams-declares-victory-after-losing-voter-suppression-lawsuit/
