Atlanta, Georgia – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has won another legal battle in his ongoing defense of SB 202, the state’s Election Integrity Act. This is the latest in a series of court battles surrounding the law.
The Coalition for Good Governance filed the most recent complaint on May 17, 2021. The group objected to some aspects of SB 202, saying that they were not appropriately regulating how elections were run and how voters acted.
Their case targeted measures that allow the State Board of Elections to remove local election officials for malfeasance, restrict intentional observation of another voter’s ballot, prohibit photographing ballots, limit how election observers may communicate information about a voter’s ballot, and prevent the tallying of absentee ballots before polls close.
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After years of court battles, a federal district judge ruled on March 18, 2025, in favor of the state, allowing the disputed clauses to stay in place. The Coalition for Good Governance didn’t like the decision and took the matter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On January 22, 2026, the appellate court agreed with the lower court’s decision without hearing any arguments. This time, they sided with Carr’s office again.
Carr called the decision a strong support for Georgia’s election regulations. He said that the decisions back up the state’s claim that SB 202 makes elections safer while still allowing people to vote.
“For years, we have defended the State against baseless lawsuits filed by Joe Biden and left-wing activists, who continued to peddle the lies and misinformation spread by Stacey Abrams. The fight isn’t over though, and we’ll ensure that Georgia’s Election Integrity Act is upheld,” Carr said.
Since SB 202 was passed, the Coalition for Good Governance has filed a lawsuit to stop or overturn it. This is only one of many legal actions that have been taken since then. The Biden administration’s U.S. Department of Justice also sued in 2021 to challenge the law. But that case didn’t go anywhere. After Carr asked, the Department of Justice dropped the complaint under President Trump.
Supporters of SB 202 say that it makes the rules for running elections clear and helps stop wrongdoing. People who oppose it say that it makes the election process too tight.
The Eleventh Circuit’s decision keeps important parts of the law in place. This is just one more court opinion that has maintained Georgia’s Election Integrity Act.
Carr’s office said that his office will keep defending the law against any future legal challenges. The struggle over SB 202 obviously is not over yet, but that the courts have always ruled that it is valid.
