Election integrity group True the Vote defeated a voting group backed by failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Tuesday, in what True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht called a “resounding vindication” against “lawfare.”
A federal judge ruled that True the Vote’s mass challenges of Georgia voters’ eligibility does not amount to illegal voter intimidation.
Fair Fight Action, which Abrams founded, was the lead plaintiff in the case against True the Vote. Fair Fight Action said that True the Vote’s move to challenge the eligibility of 250,000 Peach State voters before the 2021 runoffs violated the Voting Rights Act. The runoffs ultimately gave the Democrats control of the Senate with the election of Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA). Local election boards rejected most of the voter challenges launched by True the Vote.
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“Not only have plaintiffs failed to overcome the fact that their actions did not result in any direct voter contact or alone include or direct county boards of elections to pursue an eligibility inquiry, but there is no evidence that defendants’ actions caused (or attempted to cause) any voter to be intimidated, coerced, or threatened in voting,” U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, a left-leaning judge, wrote in his order, which found insufficient evidence that True the Vote tried to threaten or coerce voters.
Engelbrecht called the ruling a “resounding vindication” in an email to supporters.
“Today’s ruling sends a clear message to those who would attempt to control the course of our nation through lawfare and intimidation. American citizens will not be silenced,” the True the Vote founder continued.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
After True the Vote challenged voters’ eligibility in the run-up to the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs — won by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — the Republican-controlled Georgia General Assembly expanded the state’s voter challenge law, making it explicit that it could be used against an unlimited number of voter registrations.Since then, conservative activists have filed over 100,000 more voter challenges, primarily in Atlanta-area counties with large numbers of Democratic voters.
“Fair Fight is disappointed that Georgians and voters nationwide must continue to wait for our federal courts to impose accountability in the face of widespread and mounting voter intimidation efforts. In recent years, we have witnessed the erosion of our rights unfold on a national level. And the courts do not consistently provide the vindication and protection we seek,” Fair Fight Action Executive Director Chianti Stewart-Reid said in a statement.
The case is Fair Fight Inc. v. True the Vote, No. 2:20-CV-00302-SJC in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.