US federal judges requires Georgia to abandon "exact match" voter registration law

With only days to go before the 2018 US midterm elections, a federal judge ruled that the state of Georgia must change its "exact match" law that required voter registrations with even the tiniest variation from other official identifications to be flagged as potential non-citizens unless they could produce proof of identity. A group of civil rights groups sued Republican secretary of state Brian Kemp, in charge of the elections despite also running for governor, to change the procedure, which they argued disproportionately affected minority voters. Georgia, like many southern states, has a history of tactics aimed at deterring the black population from voting. When Kemp beat Democrat Stacy Abrams, Abrams delivered a speech saying that "...eight years of systemic disenfranchisement, disinvestment, and incompetence had its desired effect on the electoral process in Georgia."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/03/judge-rules-against-brian-kemp-over-georgia-voting-restrictions-days-before-gubernatorial-election/
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/16/politics/stacey-abrams-concession/index.html

Writer: Eli Rosenberg; Gregory King
Publication: Washington Post; CNN
Publication date: 2018-11-03; 2018-11-17