The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee moved on Wednesday to intervene in lawsuits brought by liberal advocacy groups challenging Georgia and Iowa’s new election laws.
The GOP organizations say the state laws will boost voter confidence and provide accountability for local election officials.
“The Democrats have grossly mischaracterized the provisions and impact of Georgia’s and Iowa’s recent election reforms,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and NRSC Chairman Sen. Rick Scott in a joint statement.
“The RNC, NRSC, and our partner committees look forward to fighting back against the Democrat lies and their lawyers’ incendiary and outlandish claims,” they said. “We are confident the courts will see through this partisan rhetoric and uphold both of the laws that reasonably balance access and integrity.”
The motions to intervene in the federal lawsuits come after civil rights groups sued to block the laws, arguing the new measures run afoul of the Constitution and discriminate against minority voters.
The Georgia lawsuit, filed last week against Republican officials, focused on the GOP legislature passing legislation that requires an ID to vote by absentee ballot.
The federal lawsuit asserts that the law violates the Voting Rights Act.
In addition to requiring an ID, the law reduces the time to request absentee ballots and sets new rules for ballot drop boxes. It also bans people from passing out food and water while people wait in line to vote.
The rewrite of Georgia election laws passed in party-line votes, and outraged Democrats and liberal voting right activists who say Republicans are trying to suppress the Black vote.
They also raised alarms about new election laws passed in other states by GOP legislatures.
Iowa recently enacted a law that limits early voting and requires polling sites to close an hour earlier. Hispanic groups filed a lawsuit to block that law from going into effect earlier this month, too.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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