On Tuesday (November 15), Senator Raphael Warnock’s campaign sued Georgia after that state announced that early voting in the Senate runoff won’t begin on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Warnock is seeking reelection to the Senate and is facing Republican challenger Herschel Walker, who trailed him by 48,000 votes in the midterm elections.
Warnock’s campaign is challenging Georgia’s interpretation of state law in the lawsuit. The law in question prohibits early voting on holidays and would prevent early voting on November 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
The day after Thanksgiving, previously called Robert E. Lee Day to commemorate the Confederate War General, is also a state holiday. A state law passed in 2016 prohibits voting from starting two days after a holiday.
The state argues that since Saturday (November 26) is too close to either holiday, early voting will only begin on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
But in the lawsuit, Warnock points to state law requiring early voting to commence “as soon as possible” after the state certifies the election results, with November 28 to December 3 being a mandatory period.
In the lawsuit, Warnock, Georgia Democrats, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee assert the state “misreads” and “cherry picks” legislation not applicable to runoffs.
But, the state is moving ahead with its plans, arguing the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County, is trying to force the state to bend the rules.
In a statement released shortly after Warnock and “Democratic Party allies” filed the lawsuit, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger claimed the lawsuit is “seeking to change Georgia law right before an election” based on the political preferences of Warnock and Democrats.
