Don’t believe the claims by left-wing organizations such as the ACLU that they won a big victory in the recent decision by U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Boulee in their challenge of Georgia’s 2021 election reform bill.
In fact, Georgia won a significant victory against those opponents of election integrity when Boulee refused Aug. 18 to grant them a preliminary injunction against most of the provisions they are contesting.
For example, one of the reforms implemented by Georgia was a ban on ballot trafficking. Under Georgia’s new law, only a voter, a member of his or her family or household, or a caregiver can return that voter’s absentee ballot. That obviously prevents third-party strangers, such as candidates, party activists, political consultants, and others with a stake in the outcome of the election from handling ballots, which can lead to all kinds of mischief.
Georgia also legalized drop boxes for the first time, but specified, for obvious security reasons, that they be placed inside — rather than outside — voting locations so that election officials could keep a watchful eye on them the same way they do standard ballot boxes inside polling places.
In Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Kemp, Boulee rejected plaintiffs’ claims that both of these commonsense rules violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by discriminating against disabled voters. Brian Kemp is the governor of Georgia.