ACLU threatens to sue state after General Assemble passes controversial election bill

Richard Elliot
·2 min read
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Just minutes after the Georgia General Assembly passed a controversial elections bill, the ACLU threatened to sue the state if the governor signed it into law.

Lawmakers passed the bill late Thursday night as the legislative session ended for the year. But before the confetti from the Sine Die celebration hit the floor, the ACLU of Georgia was threatening to sue the state over the controversial elections bill.

Late Thursday night, the House cobbled it together from a series of Senate elections bills. Among other things, it removes the Secretary of State from the State Elections Board.

It makes it easier for third-party presidential candidates to get on Georgia’s ballot.

Starting in 2026, it bans the state from using QR codes to count ballots.

It tweaks how activists can challenge voter eligibility and changes some residency requirements.

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Minutes after the final gavel ended the 2024 session, GOP leadership was defending the bill.

“We will continue to take steps to give Georgians confidence in our elections process,” House speaker Jon Burns said.

Burns told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that he believes the bill, SB 189, will make elections more secure.

“With security, we took some steps with that in the budget today to make sure the Secretary of State and his team are able to do the job to give confidence in an election,” Burns said.

The ACLU’s Andrea Young said the new bill violates federal election law and the National Voter Registration Act and said it will not stand up to a legal challenge.

“We were deeply disappointed as is often the case with bad bills,” Young told Elliot. “But we would really urge the governor to veto this bill. He has said over and over that, you know, Georgia’s election system is sound.”

In a statement, the governor’s office says this bill, like all bills, will undergo a legal review before a decision is made.

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