Black Voters Matter Fund said Georgia law guarantees that all registered voters can cast a mail-in ballot from home, but the state's elections officials put the burden of paying the postage fee on the voters.
Other election-related mail — such as an update to a voter's registration — does not require postage, according to the brief. The plaintiffs, which include the group and two Georgia voters, say that because a single 55-cent stamp may not be enough to mail a ballot, they have to guess how much postage they need and can end up paying up to $1.65.
Because the postage fee has nothing to do with a voter's qualifications, it is a poll tax, the plaintiffs said.
"Paying a $1.65 postal fee does not complete a felony sentence or serve any rehabilitative or criminal justice-related purpose," they said. "Paying a $1.65 postal fee does not prove identity like photo identification. Paying a $1.65 postal fee does not prove United States citizenship, whether the person is age 18 or older, whether the voter is a resident of Georgia, or whether the voter has been declared mentally incompetent by a judge."
At the district court, Georgia's secretary of state "repeatedly floated a red herring" that postage stamps are a tax imposed by the U.S. Postal Service, not Georgia, because the money does not go to the state, according to the brief. But the plaintiffs called this argument "irrelevant and misleading" since the 24th Amendment is indifferent as to which government entity gets the money and because the state is statutorily required to make voting by mail available to all voters.
"The money paid by voters essentially goes to Georgia elections officials, because voters paying the postal fee are defraying the postal fees that defendants would have paid to the U.S. Postal Service to deliver those ballots," the plaintiffs said.
The case was dismissed in August after a district court judge found that these are not the "specific evils the 24th Amendment was meant to address" and said a voter could opt to vote in another less convenient manner to avoid the postage fee.
But the plaintiffs pointed out that for some voters, like lead plaintiff Penelope Reid who is elderly and disabled, voting in person is not an option.
Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment late Friday.
The plaintiffs are represented by Sean J. Young of the American Civil Liberties Foundation of Georgia Inc.
The state is represented by Alexander Fraser Denton, Brian E. Lake, Joshua B. Belinfante, Melanie L. Johnson and Vincent R. Russo Jr. of Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield LLC, and Charlene S. McGowan of the Georgia Attorney General's Office.
The case is Black Voters Matter Fund et al. v. Raffensberger et al., case number 20-13414, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
--Editing by Steven Edelstone.
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