Republicans Are At It Again: Lawsuit Alleges Blatant Discrimination By State of Georgia Against Puerto Rican U.S. Citizens 

ATLANTA – Yesterday, the AJC reported that according to a federal lawsuit, the state of Georgia is discriminating against citizens of Puerto Rican descent applying for driver’s licenses:

“The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, says the state’s Department of Driver Services seizes the identity documents of Puerto Ricans and often fails to award licenses in a timely manner. It also says the department requires Puerto Ricans to take extra driver tests and to answer “trick” questions about Puerto Rico to prove they are from the U.S. territory.”

This discrimination is already blatantly unconstitutional, but the fine print makes it worse: 

“The agency’s actions affect more than a person’s ability to drive. Nearly 700,000 new voters registered through the Department of Driver Services in 2017 and 2018.”

“Republicans in Georgia have overtly used their control of state agencies for the past decade to stop Georgians from enacting their right to vote,” said Sara Tindall Ghazal, voter protection director for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “This is a literacy test designed to disenfranchise the nearly 90,000 Puerto Ricans who live in Georgia, and deny them the opportunity to have their voice heard.”

The Democratic Party of Georgia is committed to ensuring that every citizen can exercise their right to vote. Any Georgian facing difficulty in the voting process should call the DPG’s voter protection hotline at 1-888-730-5816. 

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