Judge rules against Georgia GOP candidate in voting case

A federal judge said on Friday that Georgia's "exact match" voter registration rules would not apply in mid-term next week, allowing people to vote have their registration blocked.

This is an important victory for Democrats, who feared that the regime would keep some of their constituents away from the polls in Tuesday's mid-term elections.

it is also a defeat for the Georgian state secretary, Brian Kemp, the GOP governor candidate who had pleaded for the rule. Democrat Stacy Abrams, his opponent in the governor's race, had opposed the project.

"Another day, another major defeat for Brian Kemp's crackdown on voters," said Rebecca DeHart, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia, in a statement.

Eleanor L. Ross, US District Judge North Georgia District, said that if the exact match rules were maintained, people with pending voter registration requests could be suspended. "Irreparable harm if they lose the right to vote".

Ross is appointed by former President Obama, who took office in 2013.

The "exact match" law marks the applicant's registration as "pending" if the personal information on his / her registration form does not exactly match the information of the State or State Police Services Department. Social Security Administration.

If this is pending, the applicant has 26 months to provide accurate information.

If no proof can be provided on the spot, voters will be allowed to submit provisional votes and provide the necessary information to a clerk by the Friday following the election.

In a separate decision this week, another Georgian judge ruled that requests for postal voting in violation of this rule could not be rejected.

Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Committee of Lawyers for Civil Rights Under the Law, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, welcomed the decision, while stressing that there was still work to be done to ensure fair elections.