Voter’s in Georgia faced issues on Election Day due to technical difficulties and failure of voter registrations being processed.
A judge ordered to extend voting hours for certain polling locations. The following counties affected are Bartow, Cobb, Dodge, Gwinnett and Henry. Different locations remained open three hours after original closing times of 6 p.m. There were two locations reported to remain open pass the original closing time of 6 p.m. to remain open until 10 p.m., and one location in Snellville (Gwinnett County) that remained open until 9:25 p.m.
Due to several National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) lawsuits, there was an extension of voting hours. There are reported polling locations in Gwinnett County that were extended three additional hours.
The NAACP, Georgia State Conference won lawsuit that was filed on Tuesday, Oct. 23 against State Board of Elections. This lawsuit was made after a request by the Georgia State Conference and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law against Brian Kemp for refusing to process approximately 53,000 voter registration applications. Numerous allegations were made against Kemp due to mismanagement of the Georgia voters applications. Kemp, currently Georgia’s secretary of state was accused of suppress minority votes.
Kemp’s office refused 53,000 voter registration applications. Voter applicants utilized a website provided by Kemp’s office that was built with public funds to promote his candidacy for Georgia governor. The applications were disproportioned as incomplete on minority voters.
Other lawsuit by NAACP Georgia was made due to touchscreen irregularities. The voter precinct machines would choose Secretary of State Brian Kemp when a voter would select Stacey Abrams as the choice for governor.
This lawsuit serves as a staple victory for minority voters that have had to deal with voter irregularities and mismanagement. Georgia has not been the only state affected by these voting issues, it was reported that the state of Indiana had computer shutdowns while voters were casting votes.