Georgia Citizenship Matching Challenge

Lawsuit filed by eight pro-voting advocacy groups and one Georgia voter against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) challenging the state’s protocols for matching naturalized citizens’ voter registrations with the state’s citizenship records. When a naturalized citizen registers to vote in Georgia, their county registrar verifies proof of citizenship using data from the state’s Department of Driver Services. If the voter’s citizenship cannot be verified  through their own database, the voter must provide documented proof of citizenship within 26 months or their voter registration application will be canceled.  The plaintiffs allege this data is often out of date, leading many naturalized citizens’ voter registrations to be wrongly flagged and canceled. 

The plaintiffs argue that this requirement unfairly discriminates against naturalized citizens, many of whom are Latino or Asian American, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. They also argue that these citizenship matching protocols place unfair burdens on the right to vote protected by the First and 14th Amendments. Finally, they argue that these requirements violate the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by unfairly delaying or denying qualified individuals from registering to vote. The plaintiffs ask the court to rule that the citizenship matching requirements are unlawful and permanently block Raffensperger from enforcing them.

On Sept. 29, 2022, a federal judge denied Raffenspergers’s motion for summary judgment and ordered the case to proceed to trial. Trial began on April 8, 2024. On April 11, the court ruled in favor of the defendant.

Last updated: April 11, 2024 2:24 pm EST