Raffensperger Asks Federal Government for Help Suppressing Voters
Shortly after the new U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in Wednesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) asked her to drop the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit challenging the state’s 2021 voter suppression law, S.B. 202. Raffensperger also asked newly minted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for greater access to immigration data to verify voter registrations two days earlier.
In the letter to Bondi, Raffensperger wrote that the Biden DOJ’s lawsuit against S.B. 202 was politically motivated.
S.B. 202 is a controversial omnibus voter suppression bill enacted in March 2021 following an election season where a Democratic presidential candidate won Georgia for the first time in over 25 years and a Georgia runoff gave Democrats a Senate majority. The law drew broad condemnation from the Biden administration, former President Jimmy Carter and Georgia-based businesses like Delta Airlines. Major League Baseball (MLB) relocated its All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver that year as a protest of S.B. 202.
The law placed numerous restrictions on mail-in voting, shortened the timeline of runoff elections, shortened the early voting period, and banned individuals from giving out food or drinks to voters waiting in line, a practice called “line warming.”
A flood of lawsuits followed S.B. 202’s passage in 2021, including one from the Biden DOJ. The cases were consolidated and alleged the new law violated the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Litigation is ongoing, though a federal judge temporarily blocked two provisions affecting line warming and mail-in voting while allowing others to stay in effect.
Raffensperger’s letter referenced the MLB’s plan to host the 2025 All-Star Game in Atlanta as people “coming to their senses” and asked the Trump DOJ to “reach a similar conclusion.” His letter also asked Bondi to defend Georgia in other voting rights lawsuits, writing “I would request that you consider filing a statement of interest in related legal challenges to support Georgia’s common-sense approach that ensures secure, accurate, and fair elections.” According to the Democracy Docket database, there are currently 16 active lawsuits against Raffensperger, the State of Georgia or the state election board challenging election laws and rules that infringe on voters’ rights.
This comes two days after Raffensperger sent a letter to Noem requesting increased access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which is used by more than 1,200 agencies to verify the citizenship or immigration status of individuals seeking health care and Social Security benefits, education grants, state IDs, and professional licenses.
Raffensperger offered four improvements to SAVE, including greater searchability, more frequent updates, and free access for states.
Republicans have long wanted greater access to federal immigration data, arguing it is necessary for citizenship verification when processing voter registration applications. In 2024, Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Texas sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleging that SAVE was too difficult to use because it requires a “unique immigration identifier” like an alien registration number, which is difficult to obtain. The states requested access to other immigration and citizenship databases, and asked DHS to provide citizenship status information of specific voters.
DHS claims SAVE is the only method of verifying immigration or citizenship status of individuals available to states.