Federal judge blocks GOP bid to throw out voter records in Georgia
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Georgia residents fill out voting forms as they wait to cast a ballot in the 2020 election, at the Mountain Park Activity Center in Stone Mountain, Ga., on October 23. File Photo by Tami Chappell/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 29 (UPI) A federal judge has rejected efforts by elections officials in two Georgia counties to cancel thousands of voter registrations ahead of next week s key runoff races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner issued an injunction to block officials in Muscogee and Ben Hill counties from dismissing the registrations.
Federal judge blocks voter eligibility challenge ahead of Georgia runoffs Follow Us
Question of the Day FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, file photo, people wait in line on the first day of advance voting for Georgia’s Senate runoff election at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Ga. A federal judge on Monday, Dec. 28, . more > By - Associated Press - Tuesday, December 29, 2020
COLUMBUS, Ga. A federal judge ordered local election officials in Georgia to allow voting by more than 4,000 people whose eligibility was being challenged ahead of next week’s runoff elections for the U.S. Senate.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner blocked election boards in Ben Hill County and Muscogee County, which includes Columbus, from forcing large numbers of voters to prove their residency before casting ballots in the runoffs. The judge ruled that denying so many voters
29 Dec 2020
Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, a federal judge in Georgia and sister of failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, effectively blocked challenges to voter eligibility in two Georgia counties ahead of the January 5 Senate runoff.
Gardner on Monday ruled in favor of Majority Forward, the nonprofit organization of former Clinton campaign attorney Marc Elias, who remains at the helm of many of the voting challenges seeded throughout the U.S. He contended that Republicans tried to “disenfranchise” thousands of voters, particularly 4,000 in two Georgia counties Muscogee County and Ben Hill County based on groundless “change-of-address” data.
A voter named Ralph Russell brought forth the challenge in mid-December, alleging that he “had compared evidence from publicly accessible voter registration databases to prove that these voters had moved out of Georgia,” per
The Wrong Jones: Georgia Man Locked Up Because He Shared First and Last Name with Suspect Sues Police Department for Wrongful Arrest
Martin Montravious Jones’ life is in limbo.
The 24-year-old Albany, Georgia, man graduated from Kennesaw State University in suburban Atlanta in May with dreams of becoming a civilian engineer with a government titan like NASA, SpaceX or the Warner Robins Air Force Base just outside of Macon.
While those dreams are on hold for now, in part because of COVID-19, Jones now worries that another looming threat may jeopardize his future.
In March 2019, he was wrongfully arrested because of a snafu by police in his hometown. Jones shared the same first and last name with a man accused of damaging his ex-girlfriend’s car and house during a 2018 domestic dispute.