In October 2024, a plaintiff asked Georgia’s Superior Court of Oconee County to stop the county board of elections and registration from registering new voters until it held hearings on approximately 230 voters whose registrations had been challenged in July as part of a large-scale effort to restrict voter access.
Shortly thereafter, with about a month left until the general election in 2024, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its partner organizations, ACLU of Georgia, the American Civil Liberties Union and Akerman LLP, intervened in the lawsuit.
The SPLC’s intervention motion was filed on behalf of Oconee County resident Susan Noakes and Common Cause Georgia. On behalf of the intervenors, SPLC asked the court to dismiss plaintiff Suzannah Heimel’s request for a writ of mandamus and emergency injunction.
On Oct. 8, 2024, the court granted Noakes’ motion and the case was dismissed, ultimately stopping mass voter challenges and possible voter roll purges.
On behalf of Susan Noakes, the SPLC also filed a cross-claim, seeking to prohibit the elections board’s actions that would have violated Georgia law prohibiting challenges of an elector within 45 days of an election. The court scheduled a hearing on the intervenor’s cross-claim arguments. The court granted the SPLC’s temporary restraining order, which compelled the election board to restore the registration status of dozens of Oconee County voters before the November 2024 election.
The case went on appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia, where the appeal was dismissed.
The court also scheduled a hearing on the intervenor’s arguments that the elections board’s actions violate Georgia law prohibiting challenges of an elector within 45 days of an election.
