Judge ruled that Georgia’s prohibition on shooting voting ballots may be unconstitutional

A federal judge approved a preliminary injunction under part of Georgia’s new election law, ruling that it may be unconstitutional to prohibit shooting ballots.

U.S. District Judge JP Boulee wrote on Friday that Coalition for Good Governance, the electoral integrity organization that filed the lawsuit, and others “showed a high probability of success based on their claims,” that the broad ban on shooting ballots violated the First Amendment. Case rights.

“The court’s crackdown on the photography ban is an important first step in proving this [the voting law] Legislators prefer to count votes behind closed doors, which hinders important oversight of the media and the public,” said Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Good Governance Alliance, in a statement.

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Boulee approved a preliminary injunction for this part of the law on Friday, which means it cannot be enforced at this time. In the same order, he refused to block other regulations that were mainly related to monitoring or filming parts of the election process.

The new law, known as SB 202, also increased the voter ID requirements for mailed ballots, shortened the application time for mailed ballots, reduced the number of ballot boxes in the Atlanta metro area, and gave the State Election Commission new power to intervene in the county election office, and Removal and replacement of local election officials.

There are currently eight federal lawsuits questioning parts of the 98-page law promulgated earlier this year, one of which was brought by the United States Ministry of Justice.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office, along with members of the State Election Commission, is a defendant in the lawsuit and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. But he has previously stated that he believes the new law will withstand court challenges.

Although the lawsuit filed by the Good Governance Coalition challenges many aspects of the law, including the part that allows the state election commission to remove county election supervisors, the preliminary injunction request that is the subject of Boulee’s ruling is relatively narrow.

It argues that the relevant regulations criminalize normal election observation activities. Attorneys in the state argued that these parts of the law strengthened previous protections and were necessary for the integrity of the election.

Boulee refused to block another photographic clause that prohibits taking photos or recordings of the face of the touch-screen voting machine when someone is voting or showing the voter’s choice.

Other provisions he refuses to block include: prohibiting people from deliberately observing the way voters vote to allow observers to see voters’ choices; requiring absentee ballots at least 11 days before the election; and prohibiting observers from putting them in the process of absent ballot processing Any information seen is communicated to anyone other than election officials.