U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during an event at the Justice Department in Washington, June 15, 2021.
Win McNamee | Pool via Reuters
The Justice Department is filing a lawsuit against new election restrictions in Georgia, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday.
“Wherever we see violations of federal law, we will act,” Garland said at a press conference.
Garland accused Georgia’s electoral reform law of being “enacted with the aim of denying or restricting black Georgians the right to vote on the basis of race or skin color.”
He called the Justice Department’s new lawsuit “the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote”.
The federal lawsuit was announced about three months after Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed the election revision bill passed by the GOP-controlled legislature.
The law reportedly enacts a range of restrictive and potentially confusing measures that critics claim will affect voter turnout, especially in Democratic and minority cities and suburbs.
The changes sparked a national outcry from Democrats and constituencies, as well as major business leaders such as Coca-Cola and the NCAA, who protested the actions of the Peach State.
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