A federal judge has ordered Georgia Secretary of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp to allow people who his office flagged as noncitizens to vote in the midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross made the ruling on Friday, according to NBC News. Several civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against Kemp in October after more than 50,000 voter registration applications were rejected by the state. The applicants were thrown out because their identification was not an exact match with files held by the Department of Driver Services. Seventy percent of the people affected were Black.
The decision will affect over 3,000 people whose registrations were put on hold because the state marked them as non-citizens. Citizenship can only be verified by a deputy registrar. The lawsuit argued this verification process is burdensome to potential voters. Ross ruled Kemp must find a way to train all poll workers to verify citizenship ahead of the election.
Additionally, Ross wants the Secretary of State’s website updated with information to help voters who need to verify their citizenship. The order further requests a press release be issued from Kemp’s office with details on how a flagged person can vote in the election.
The ruling didn't stop there. Ross also wants literature showing acceptable types of identification posted at polling sites. Acceptable forms of identification include a current or expired driver’s license, a valid voter identification card, a passport or a photo ID issued by a Georgia school.
“Judge Ross acknowledged that Georgia already has a process in place to check citizenship at the polls,” Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce said in a statement acquired by The Huffington Post. “She decided to also allow poll managers to participate in the verification process. It is a minor change to the current system.”
Stacey Abrams' campaign has yet to speak about the decision.
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