President Joe Biden was handed a loss in Georgia when a federal judge rejected his administration’s argument to block five parts of the state’s 2021 voting law ahead of the 2024 election.
Judge J.P. Boulee of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia rejected arguments by the plaintiffs that Senate Bill 202 was racially discriminatory and also claimed some of the provisions they were seeking to enjoin were popular with Democrats.
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“S.B. 202 also includes provisions and ideas that were typically supported by Democrats, including provisions that required more staff, equipment, and polling places in large precincts with long lines,” Boulee wrote in the filing.
The five provisions in the law the Biden administration was trying to enjoin dealt with disallowing food, drink, and gifts from being distributed to voters in line, ballot drop box laws, absentee ballots, provisional ballots, and driver’s license or state identification card number requirements when applying for absentee ballots.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger celebrated the ruling in a statement on Wednesday, saying that residents in the Peach State have high confidence in how their elections are conducted.
“Today, the court confirmed what we’ve been saying all along,” Raffensperger said. “S.B. 202 strengthens election integrity while increasing the opportunity for Georgia voters to cast a ballot.”
Democrats in the state and nationally blasted the law, with Biden calling the legislation “Jim Crow in the 21st century” in a statement in March 2021. The law was condemned by several organizations shortly after it was passed, with Major League Baseball moving its 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta over the law.
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Raffensperger has pushed back against these claims, touting high voter turnout and the distinction of being one of the top early-voting states in the 2022 election, as recognized by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The Georgia Republican was reelected by nearly 10% in the 2022 election, despite Democratic backlash over the 2021 voting law he championed.
Georgia is expected to be one of the most hotly contested states in the 2024 presidential election after the traditionally Republican state flipped for Biden in 2020. The victory in Georgia proved pivotal to Biden winning the White House over then-incumbent President Donald Trump.
