Justice Department dismisses lawsuit over Georgia election law

A federal lawsuit challenging Georgia’s 2021 Election Integrity law will be dismissed, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday.

The Biden administration said in its lawsuit that Senate Bill 202 suppressed Black votes. The bill passed after the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won in Georgia.

The law requires photo identification for voting and allowed counties to reject absentee ballots that had missing or wrong information. It was called “Jim Crow 2.0” in court documents.

Opponents of the law called for an economic boycott of the state. The 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was moved from Cobb County’s Truist Park in response to the outcry against the bill. The move may have cost the state more than $100 million in economic losses, according to the Justice Department.

Major League Baseball is holding the All-Star Game at Truist Park this year.

“Contrary to the Biden administration’s false claims of suppression, Black voter turnout actually increased under SB202,” Bondi said in a release. “Georgians deserve secure elections, not fabricated claims of false voter suppression meant to divide us.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asked Bondi to dismiss the lawsuit in February.

“A University of Georgia poll conducted after the 2022 election found that 99% of voters had no issues casting a ballot,” Raffensperger said in his request. “Another UGA poll conducted after the 2024 election found similar results, with 98% of voters reporting no issues and an even higher percent of Black voters reporting on issues casting a ballot.”

Raffensperger is asking the Justice Department to release documents that may show the previous department collaborated with advocacy groups on the lawsuit. A federal judge ruled that the documents should be released, but they have not been, Raffensperger said.

“Transparency is paramount in upholding public trust,” Raffensperger said. “We call upon the DOJ to release these documents promptly, per court order, so we can better understand why this suit was brought in the first place.”