In 2016, Advancing Justice-Atlanta and several other civil rights organizations sued the Georgia Secretary of State over Georgia’s “exact match” voter registration verification process. The “exact match” process automatically rejected voter registration applications if an applicant’s information did not exactly match information in other state databases and the applicant failed to correct the mismatch within 40 days. This process led to thousands of eligible voters being denied the right to vote even when their voter registration applicants contained no errors. The majority of impacted applicants were people of color. The lawsuit led to a settlement that allowed thousands of previously disqualified voters to vote in the 2016 presidential election and reformed the voter registration verification process.

Filed
September 13, 2016

Status
Decided

Issues
Voting Rights, Exact Match, Voting Rights Act, Help America Vote Act

Legal Filing

Complaint (09/14/16)