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WASHINGTON, June 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is filing a lawsuit against Georgia over the election integrity law it signed earlier this year.

Signed in March following intense controversy over the reliability of Georgia’s results in the 2020 presidential election, the law requires voters to provide a state ID card number to request and submit absentee ballots, limits the placement and accessibility of drop boxes for mail ballots, shortens runoff elections from nine weeks to four weeks after a general election, forbids activists for candidates from giving items of any monetary value (such as water bottles) to voters waiting in line, and empowers the Georgia State Elections Board to override county election boards to require more polling places or voting machines in precincts with excessive waits in line.

For months, Democrats, left-wing activists, and their media allies have attacked the bill as an effort in “voter suppression,” particularly targeting black voters (despite the fact that black Americans overwhelmingly support basic election integrity measures such as photo ID requirements).

“This lawsuit filed is the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote that all lawful votes are counted and that every voter has access to accurate information,” Garland declared, CNN reports.

“These legislative actions occurred at a time when the Black population in Georgia continues to steadily increase and after a historic election that saw record voter turnout across the state, particularly for absentee voting, which Black voters are now more likely to use than White voters,” added DOJ Civil Rights Division chief Kristen Clarke. “Our complaint challenges several provisions of SB 202 on the grounds that they were adopted with the intent to deny or a bridge, Black citizens, equal access to the political process.”

Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp responded that the suit was “born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from the start.”

“Joe Biden, Stacey Abrams, and their allies tried to force an unconstitutional elections power grab through Congress — and failed,” Kemp continued, referring to the so-called “For the People” Act, which recently died in the Senate. “Now, they are weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy. As Secretary of State, I fought the Obama Justice Department twice to protect the security of our elections — and won. I look forward to going three for three to ensure it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat in Georgia.”

Attorney Margot Cleveland found the lawsuit “surreal,” detailing several of its qualities in a Twitter thread:

Friday’s announcement builds on a threat Garland made last week to “scrutiniz[e]” the states currently undertaking election audits, hinting that the Biden administration intends to punish states for looking too closely at President Joe Biden’s victory last fall.