Resource: Georgia Runoff Nov. 26 Early Voting Challenge

Lawsuit filed on behalf of the Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Warnock for Georgia (Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-Ga.) campaign for U.S. Senate) against Georgia challenging the state’s guidance for early voting before the Senate runoff election. During the Nov. 8 midterm elections, neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) nor his Republican challenger Herschel Walker garnered over 50% of the vote total, thus sending the two candidates to a runoff election on Dec. 6, 2022. On Nov. 12, the Georgia secretary of state’s office issued guidance stating that advance voting — the terminology Georgia uses for early in-person voting — “must begin as soon as possible prior to the runoff [on Dec. 6, 2022] and no later than Monday, November 28th.” Counties can hold advance voting prior to Thanksgiving, but not on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 24) or the day after Thanksgiving (Friday, Nov. 25). The guidance also states that counties cannot hold advance voting on Saturday, Nov. 26 based on the secretary’s reading of a 2016 law that states “if such second Saturday follows a public and legal holiday occurring on the Thursday or Friday immediately preceding such second Saturday…such advance voting shall not be held on such second Saturday.” In Georgia’s advance voting statute, the terminology “second Saturday” refers to the Saturday two weeks prior to a given election. However, contrary to the secretary’s reading of the 2016 law, the plaintiffs argue that the law “guarantees early voting on specific weekend days for primary and general elections and imposes conditions on that mandate, neither of which apply to runoffs” and therefore counties can hold early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26.