Federal appeals court may revive lawsuit against conservative group accused of voter intimidation

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ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court appeared inclined Tuesday to revive a lawsuit accusing a conservative group of violating the Voting Rights Act when it announced it was challenging the eligibility of more than 360,000 Georgia voters.

The lower court committed “legal error” in its ruling finding no violation of the Voting Rights Act, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Adalberto Jordan said at a hearing in Atlanta.

Another judge on the panel, Federico Moreno, seemed to agree, saying the district court judge had failed to conduct a separate analysis of one part of the law.

The three-judge panel did not immediately issue a ruling.

The panel was considering a lawsuit against Texas-based nonprofit True the Vote by Fair Fight, a group founded by former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Fair Fight argued True the Vote's mass voter challenge ahead of a 2021 runoff election for two pivotal U.S. Senate seats violated a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that prohibits voter intimidation.

In a 145-page decision last year, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones disagreed, saying the evidence presented during a trial did not show the actions of True the Vote “caused (or attempted to cause) any voter to be intimidated, coerced, or threatened in voting.” Jones added, however, that the list of voters to be challenged “utterly lacked reliability” and bordered on "recklessness.”

Jordan and Moreno took issue with Jones' conclusion that True the Vote did not attempt to intimidate voters.

Moreno asked an attorney for the group, Jake Evans, whether intimidating voters was the goal of the challenge.

Evans said there was no evidence of any desire by True the Vote's co-founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, to intimidate voters, and she had no contact with the challenged voters who testified at trial.

Jordan said that argument did not speak to the claim that the group attempted to intimidate voters.

“Attempt does not require success,” he said.

Moreno also suggested the 11th Circuit needed to weigh in on such mass challenges for future elections.