Judge blocks residency challenges to 4,000 Georgia voters A federal judge has ordered local election officials in Georgia to allow voting by more than 4,000 people whose eligibility had been challenged ahead of the U.S. Senate runoff elections next weekCOLUMBUS, Ga. -- A federal judge ordered local election officials in Georgia to allow voting by more than 4,000 people whose eligibility was being challenged ahead of next week’s runoff elections for the U.S. Senate. U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner blocked election boards in Ben Hill County and Muscogee County, which includes Columbus, from forcing large numbers of voters to prove their residency before casting ballots in the runoffs. The judge ruled that denying so many voters access to the ballot so close to an election would likely violate the National Voter Registration Act. Attorneys for the county election boards had asked Gardner to recuse herself in the case. The judge is the sister of Stacey Abrams, Georgia’s Democratic nominee for governor in 2018 and founder of the voting rights group Fair Fight.

Source: ABC News December 29, 2020 16:07 UTC