Democrats Get A Huge Win In Georgia As Jon Ossoff Is Registering More Than 100 Voters A Day

Democrats got a huge boost in their effort to win the House special election in Georgia when a federal judge blocked the state’s 90-day voter registration deadline, which means that all of those new voters that Jon Ossoff is registering will get to vote in the runoff election.

The Nation’s Ari Berman reported:

Voter registration is surging in Georgia – 464,000 more people have registered this year than during the last nonpresidential year (559,000 voter registration applications this year versus 95,000 in 2015). Ossoff’s campaign said they are registering more than a hundred new voters a day. “Voting rights are constitutional rights,” Ossoff said after the decision. “I encourage all eligible voters to ensure that they are registered and make their voices heard on June 20th and in all elections, regardless of their party or political persuasion.”

The 90-day rule is an effort by Georgia Republicans to freeze voter registration in the state so that new voters can’t participate in the runoff election between Jon Ossoff (D) and Karen Handel (R).

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The state of Georgia’s voter suppression attempt was found to be in violation of the National Voter Registration Act by a George W. Bush-appointed federal judge. Voter suppression is key to Republican hopes of keeping the seat in Georgia. When Democratic candidate Ossoff registering 100 new voters a day, Republicans had to keep those people from being able to vote in June. The House Georgia special election runoff looks like it will be very close.

As the nation witnessed in the 2016 presidential election, a few votes can swing a race.

If new voters get to vote in Georgia, it will only help Ossoff in his bid to flip a seat that Republicans have held since 1979, and send a strong message to the GOP that a blue wave is coming for them in 2018.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association