Federal judge won't undo Georgia voter purge.
FILE - In this Nov. 15, 20-19 file photo, former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Georgia doesn't have to put almost 100,000 voters back on its rolls, a federal judge ruled Friday, Dec. 27, 2019. U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones ruled that a voting rights advocacy group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams is improperly asking him to interpret state law.
However, Jones also ordered Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to do more to warn people that they had been removed. The judge is especially singling out a southwest Georgia state House district where a Jan. 28 specialRaffensperger in October released a list of over 313,000 voters whose registrations were at risk of being canceled. Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group, had asked for the purge to be halted.
Voter purges in Georgia became a hot-button issue during last year’s race for governor between Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp, who won the race. Kemp served as secretary of state before being elected governor and oversaw aggressive voter purges during his tenure. Over 1.4 million voter registrations were canceled in Georgia between 2012 and 2018.
Abrams' group didn't contest the removal of about 190,000 voters who had moved or to whom mail couldn't be delivered. However, it said removing a remaining 120,000 would be unfair because it would disenfranchise or burden them solely because they chose not to vote, and because people who were removed might not find out until they showed up to vote. It would be too late for them then because Georgia doesn't offer same-day registration.
Jones said it's not his role to interpret state law and that Fair Fight Action should seek a ruling from a state court.
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