Fair Fight, an activist group founded by twice-failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, sued True the Vote over its efforts to improve the integrity of the 2020 elections. Fair Fight alleged that election monitoring agencies violated the Voting Rights Act's protections against voter intimidation.
Despite the Biden Justice Department's support for Fair Fight, a federal judge appointed by President Obama on Tuesday handed Abrams another loss and ruled in TTV's favor.
background
TTV is a Texas-based group that was involved in Dinesh D'Souza's “''.2000 mules” A legal battle between the movie and China-linked election software group Konech could affect the eligibility of more than 364,000 voters ahead of January 2021 runoff elections for two key U.S. Senate seats in Georgia. Questions were raised.
close election It will determine control of the Senate, and TTV believed there was good reason to suspect that voters were disqualified from voting due to a change of residence.
TTV was involved in the final challenge of 250,783 alleged Georgia voters across 65 counties, according to one of Fair Fight's trial experts.
Fair Fight filed a complaint against TTV on December 23, 2020.
claim Election integrity groups “intimidated voters through a multipronged approach: challenging voter registrations based on unreliable information, monitoring voters returning ballots, and monitoring polling places.” It recruited citizen observers and U.S. Navy SEALs to do so, and offered a $1 million bounty as an incentive.'' Its supporters must find evidence of suspected illegal voting. ”
One of the plaintiffs, Scott Berson, claimed during the trial that after earning a master's degree from Auburn University, he returned to Muscogee County, Georgia, and found his eligibility to vote in the upcoming election was in question. .
report Associated Press.
“It was very discouraging and frustrating to hear that,” Berson said.
In January 2023, the Biden Justice Department
It has been submitted A brief has been filed on behalf of Fair Fight, seeking to poke holes in TTV's defense, particularly its view that voter challenges do not amount to intimidation under state law.
Even with the intervention of the Justice Department, Mr. Abrams' group was unable to achieve victory.
ruling
Judge Steve Jones of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia said:
145 page order “None of the actions taken by the defendants in this case amount to voter intimidation.”
Jones criticized TTV's list of potentially ineligible voters as “completely lacking in credibility,” but added, “Georgia voters were reasonably intimidated by defendant's actions.” It was acknowledged that there was insufficient evidence to show that.
Jones noted that the final decision to have voters provide additional information about their eligibility to vote in a particular county rests with county election boards.
“This intermediary between the challenger and the eligibility inquiry raises significant causation issues for plaintiffs' case,” Jones wrote. “This denounces the direct connection between Defendants' alleged acts of intimidation and the voters who were allegedly intimidated, and breaks the chain of causation for the purpose of establishing liability for voter intimidation. ”
“Plaintiffs argue against the fact that their actions did not result in direct voter contact or solely included or directed the county board of elections to pursue an eligibility investigation,” Jones wrote. “Not only was the defendant unable to overcome this, but there is also no evidence that the defendant's actions caused it.” Intimidate, coerce, intimidate, or attempt to intimidate a voter regarding voting. ”
reaction
Like its founder, who showed a tendency to deny legitimate results, Fair Fight did not take losses well.
“True the Vote uses Donald Trump's Big Lie as the basis for launching eligibility challenges for more than 364,000 Georgians ahead of the runoff elections,” said Sianti Stewart, executive director of Fair Fight. We believe they took advantage of voters, many of whom were black, brown, and first-time voters,” said Fair Fight Executive Director Sianti Stewart.lead
Said In a statement.
“Efforts by conspiracy theorists and anti-voter extremists to remove voters from the voter rolls through mass voter challenges and aggressive voter purges threaten our democracy and the elections scheduled for 2024. Stewart-Reid added:
Fair Fight could be particularly hurt because Judge Jones dismissed another lawsuit in September. Abrams' Fair Fight Action alleges in its complaint that Georgia “grossly mismanaged” the 2018 election, disenfranchising some citizens. Jones thought otherwise, saying, “While Georgia's election system is not perfect, the practices at issue violate neither the Constitution nor the VRA.”
TTV President Catherine Engelbrecht
Said “Today's ruling sends a clear message to those who seek to control the course of our country through law and intimidation. The American people will not be silenced.”
“This decision is monumental,” said Jake Evans, TTV's lead attorney. I'm grateful to have been able to help achieve this great victory.” . ”
“We remain steadfast in our mission to support trustworthy elections, and we look forward to continuing to support the public with such lawful efforts,” the election integrity group said in a statement.
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