The Republican Party has stepped into the fight over Georgia's voting rules, announcing on Thursday plans to fight Joe Biden's Justice Department in its lawsuit against the state.
Both the national party and its Senate campaign arm said it would intervene in what GOP officials call a 'politically-motivated case.'
'Joe Biden and Democrats are weaponizing the Justice Department by trying to strong-arm the state of Georgia into making its elections less secure. The RNC is intervening in this case because the security of the ballot is more important than Democrat power grabs,' Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
Republicans are heavily targeting Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia in next year's election.
The RNC is asking to serve as a co-defendant.
'The RNC filed our papers on Tuesday night. The RNC asked the court to allow us to serve as a defendant in the lawsuit alongside the state in order to help defend its voting reforms. The court in GA has already allowed the RNC to intervene in the 7 other lawsuits there so we are confident we will be granted intervention in this suit as well,' a GOP official told DailyMail.com.
The Republican Party, led by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, is intervening in the Justice Department's lawsuit against Georgia voting rules
Many Georgia voters waited in long lines in the 2020 election
Last week, the US Supreme Court upheld a series of voting restrictions in Arizona that are similar to Georgia's. Experts said it will make it harder on the Justice Department to fight the Georgia case.
The Justice Department announced at the end of June it is suing the state of Georgia over its new voting law that critics say make it harder for African Americans to vote.
'The rights of all eligible citizens to vote, are the central pillars of our democracy,' Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference announcing the suit.
'Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia's election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section two of the Voting Rights Act,' he said.
Georgia's Election Integrity Act was passed in March by the Republican-led state legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. It put new limits on absentee
