老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia, Lawyers鈥 Committee Warn DeKalb County Election Board Against Wrongfully Removing Legally Registered Voters from the Rolls

August 20, 2019 11:00 am

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ATLANTA 鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia and Lawyers鈥 Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, on behalf of the New Georgia Project and the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples鈥 Agenda, wrote a letter warning the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections that it may have violated the law when it categorically removed all voters who listed as their residence 444 Sycamore Drive, Decatur, GA 30030. Located at that address is the Peer Support, Wellness, and Respite Center, which according to its website is freely available for people with mental disabilities who need housing to avoid psychiatric hospitalization.

According to the minutes, the board removed the voters because it decided that the address was not a 鈥渞esidence.鈥 However, as the letter states, neither state nor federal law grants election officials the authority to judge what constitutes housing, especially for those hardest hit by life鈥檚 struggles.

As the letter states, 鈥渆lection officials must be vigilant when considering challenges or requests to disenfranchise people that are based on Google Maps or their preconceived notions of what a 鈥榬esidence鈥 looks like.鈥 Furthermore, Georgia courts have recognized that a voter鈥檚 residency does not depend solely on how long they stay in one place.

In addition, Georgia law requires that only individual voters 鈥 rather than municipalities like the City of Decatur 鈥 can file challenges to the qualifications of a registered voter. Yet, the board鈥檚 minutes fail to reflect who asked the City of Decatur to remove those voters from the rolls.

鈥淭he board needs to explain its actions,鈥 said Sean J. Young, legal director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia. 鈥淚t is morally wrong for government officials to judge where someone calls home.鈥

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