Abrams-backed lawsuit filed in GA seeks to overhaul elections in the state

A group backed by Democrat Stacey Abrams filed a lawsuit in Georgia that seeks to overhaul the state’s electoral process, according to media reports.

The lawsuit was filed by Fair Fight Georgia, which was formed by Abrams following her loss in Georgia’s gubernatorial race to Republican Brian Kemp. The lawsuit asks a judge to make changes to the state’s elections system, according to The Associated Press.

The filing of the lawsuit follows through on a pledge made by Abrams earlier this month, when she threatened a lawsuit over “mismanagement” of the state’s elections by Kemp, who as Georgia’s secretary of state oversaw the election. 

Abrams is not seeking to change the results of her loss to Kemp, having previously acknowledged that he will serve as the next governor of Georgia.

She instead wants to address voting rights issues in the state after accusing Kemp of suppressing minority voters and Democrats leading up to and during Election Day.

Georgia came under scrutiny this election cycle as thousands of voter registration applications were placed on hold because voters were flagged as noncitizens under the state’s “exact match” law.

The law, which a judge eased requirements for prior to Election Day, marked voter registration forms as pending if the information didn’t exactly match what the state had on record at the Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration.  

Voters in certain counties in the state were also forced to wait in long lines on Election Day because of problems with voting machines.