Brian Kemp says 51,000 people shouldn't be able to vote in Ga. A judge just ruled otherwise

A federal judge has ruled in favor of challenges to Georgia's "exact match" law. And that means tens of thousands of extra votes could be allowed on Election Day.The "exact match" law requires voter registration information to match driver's licenses, state ID cards or Social Security records.According to the Atlanta Constitution Journal, registrations can be stalled for several reasons including a missing hyphen in a last name, a discrepancy between a maiden name and a married name, or a misspelling in government records.More than 50,000 people who tried to sign up to vote were not added to the state's list of active voters, at the direction of the Secretary of State's office, because election officials said they could not verify their information.The Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, is the Republican candidate for governor.Democratic candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams, accused Kemp of trying to suppress votes.Several civil rights organizations sued Kemp's office to stop the state from enforcing the law.In its ruling against the Secretary of State's office, the federal court ordered Kemp's office to allow county election officials to permit eligible voters who registered to vote, but who are inaccurately flagged as non-citizens to vote a regular ballot once the voter provided proof of citizenship to poll managers or deputy registrars. The court also ordered the state direct all county election officials how they can verify proof of citizenship.The court also wants Kemp's office to tell county boards of elections to post lists of acceptable documents to prove citizenship at polling locations on election day.Read the ruling here

A federal judge has ruled in favor of challenges to Georgia's "exact match" law. And that means tens of thousands of extra votes could be allowed on Election Day.

The "exact match" law requires voter registration information to match driver's licenses, state ID cards or Social Security records.


According to the Atlanta Constitution Journal, registrations can be stalled for several reasons including a missing hyphen in a last name, a discrepancy between a maiden name and a married name, or a misspelling in government records.

More than 50,000 people who tried to sign up to vote were not added to the state's list of active voters, at the direction of the Secretary of State's office, because election officials said they could not verify their information.

The Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, is the Republican candidate for governor.

Democratic candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams, accused Kemp of trying to suppress votes.

Several civil rights organizations sued Kemp's office to stop the state from enforcing the law.

In its ruling against the Secretary of State's office, the federal court ordered Kemp's office to allow county election officials to permit eligible voters who registered to vote, but who are inaccurately flagged as non-citizens to vote a regular ballot once the voter provided proof of citizenship to poll managers or deputy registrars. The court also ordered the state direct all county election officials how they can verify proof of citizenship.

The court also wants Kemp's office to tell county boards of elections to post lists of acceptable documents to prove citizenship at polling locations on election day.

Read the ruling here