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Lead plaintiff Fair Fight Action, a voting rights nonprofit, did
not establish that the Georgia secretary of state's decision to
cancel the voter registrations had violated the constitution,
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones said in the ruling.
The judge, from the Northern District of Georgia, added that the
secretary of state must make "diligent and reasonable" efforts
to inform residents about registration, especially those that
have until Monday to re-register to vote in a January special
election for a seat in the House of Representatives.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger welcomed the
decision, saying the state was ensuring that every eligible
voter could vote.
"Today Judge Jones upheld Georgia's decision to maintain clean
voter rolls," Raffensperger said after the ruling.
"Despite activists' efforts and lawsuits that only waste
taxpayers' dollars, Georgia is continuing to ensure every
eligible voter can vote and voter lists remain accurate."
Fair Fight Action, founded by Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams,
who narrowly lost the 2018 race for governor to present Georgia
Governor Brian Kemp, said it was looking at additional legal
options.
"The Court today declined to issue an injunction on the purge,
but expressed that it has a 'serious concern that there needs to
be an immediate and accurate interpretation by the state court
of HB 316'," Lauren Groh-Wargo, chief executive at Fair Fight
Action, said.
"We share this concern and are exploring additional legal
options," she added.
The state's practices have previously drawn criticism from
national voting rights advocates. These include purges of voter
rolls and stringent rules requiring signatures on mail-in
ballots.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan
Harvey)
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