South Georgia Times

A motion for a temporary restraining order was granted against Ben Hill County Board of Elections in a case questioning the eligibility of voters in the county.

U.S. District Judge Leslie A. Gardner ruled that the counties are enjoined from removing challenged voters in their counties from registration lists due to National Change of Address data. They are also enjoined from disallowing targeted voters from casting regular ballots in the January runoff election. 

The plaintiffs, Majority Forward and Gamaliel Warren Turner Sr., filed the lawsuit against Ben Hill County Board of Elections and Registration, Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration and their members, supervisors, chief registrar and director on Dec. 23 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia at Albany.

Majority Forward, a non-profit that was created to support voter turnout, and Turner, a Muscogee County registered voter, alleged in their lawsuit that the county boards challenged voter eligibility for the Jan. 5 runoff elections based on data from the National Change of Address registry, which they argue is a violation of the National Voter Registration Act, as well as Georgia law.

The defendants improperly found probable cause to challenge the eligibility of 152 voters in Ben Hill County and 4,033 voters in Muscogee County because of what it says is inaccurate and unreliable data.

“Here, the challenge to thousands of voters less than a month prior to the Runoff Elections — after in person early voting had begun in the state — appears to be the type of ‘systematic’ removal prohibited by the NVRA,” the order states. 

The plaintiffs also argue that the boards’ actions will burden those with the right to vote because it imposes unjustifiable barriers on them casting votes in the runoff election.

Gardner wrote that the plaintiffs clearly established a burden of persuasion and, because of that, the motion for a temporary restraining order is granted.