Vote advocates support filing a lawsuit against the Republican lawsuit against Georgia

Voting rights advocates in Georgia are asking a state court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by local Republicans that might affect greater than 5,000 voters in the upcoming presidential election.

Lawyers for the Advancement Project, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Arnold & Porter filed a motion to intervene in the case filed by the Dekalb County Republican Party and an activist searching for to force members of the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections to carry challenge hearings that may accomplish that remove over 5,000 voters from the lists before the elections.

How Republicans’ lawsuit could impact Georgia voters

The Republican’s case is pending in state court. Lawyers representing the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the New Georgia Project, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Common Cause Georgia and the League of Women Voters of Georgia hope the courts will dismiss their lawsuit.

“To date, DeKalb County election officials have correctly applied the law. “They refused to hold hearings on the grievance and rejected petitioners’ allegations that thousands of voters, many of whom were voters of color, were improperly registered,” reads a joint press release from voting rights advocacy groups. “If allowed, public hearings on the complaint could disrupt the November election and cause chaos by removing voters on the eve of Election Day – perhaps after early voting begins.”

Legal experts say the request to intervene is meant to stop any voter purge proceedings from being removed and the must file a lawsuit under the nation’s Voter Registration Act if the case goes to federal court.

“This last-minute attempt to purge over 5,000 voters in Georgia is simply a tool to sow chaos and weaken our electoral process,” said Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project. “Requiring that DeKalb County hold public hearings on the complaint would give partisan officials the opportunity to publicly present trumped-up allegations of illegal voting when, in fact, the petitioners are trying to suppress the vote in a predominantly black county.”