ATLANTA — The state of Georgia asked a federal court judge Monday to dismiss a lawsuit alleging voter suppression in the way the state conducts elections and demanding changes in Georgia’s elections laws.
“We believe that we have presented a strong case,” said Rev. Raphael Warnock, of Ebenezer Baptist Church. “We pray and hope we will prevail.”
Ebenezer Baptist Church joined with Fair Fight Action and others in filing the sweeping lawsuit alleging problems with Georgia elections from the voting machines used, to the way poll workers are trained, to how counties handle absentee and provisional ballots.
Attorneys for Georgia argued that two new laws, including the voting machine bill, passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, address many of the issues raised by the lawsuit.
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“The 39-page bill is a significant piece of legislation that addresses large swaths of Georgia election law,” said Josh Belinfante, who is representing the state.
Attorneys also argued that many of the issues raised in the suit are more county problems, not state issues.
But Fair Fight Action attorney Allegra Lawrence-Hardy argued that even though the governor signed the voting machine bill into law, the state hasn’t purchased a single new machine, or enacted any new elections rules or regulations yet.
"No new machines have been purchased," Lawrence-Hardy told Channel 2's Richard Elliot. "No new regulations have been promulgated. We right now have exactly what we had before."
The state said that there are a record number of registered voters in Georgia, and that more than 680,000 of them registered within the past three years.
U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones could take more than a week before reaching a decision on whether the lawsuit should be dismissed.