Voting rights groups win orders to expand polling hours in Georgia and Texas
Voting rights groups on Tuesday won court orders expanding polling hours in locations in Georgia and Texas, while also filing a suit seeking to keep Georgia’s secretary of state from overseeing the vote count in his gubernatorial bid.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law succeeded in obtaining extended polling hours in Fulton County, Georgia, where voters experienced long lines, Reuters reports. But the group failed to win extended hours in Maricopa County, Arizona, where printer malfunctions caused delays.
Other groups also succeeded in suits to keep polls open in Georgia, report Time.com and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A judge in Gwinnet County, Georgia, ordered extended hours because of technical issues with voting machines, while the NAACP of Georgia won a lawsuit to keep polls open near the historically black colleges Morehouse and Spelman.
Two civil rights groups in Texas also sued and won a court order to extend voting hours in Harris County, Texas, at locations that failed to open on time, the Texas Tribune reported.
Also in Georgia, the Protect Democracy nonprofit announced that it filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to keep Secretary of State Brian Kemp from being involved in counting votes, certifying results or any runoff or recount in the election, according to a press release and CNBC. Kemp is running for governor, and he has a slim lead over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.
On Wednesday morning, Abrams was refusing to concede until more ballots were counted, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
