Judge orders 2 Georgia counties to halt voter purge attempts

A federal judge on Monday blocked two Georgia counties' attempts to remove over 4,000 voters from electoral rolls ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs that'll determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

Why it matters: Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, the sister of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, found the attempts by Muscogee and Ben Hill counties would likely violate the National Voter Registration Act and deny voters their constitutional right to vote.

The big picture: The vast majority of voter registrations that would've been affected were in Muscogee County, which President-elect Joe Biden "won handily in November," notes Politico, which first reported the news. 150 were in Ben Hill County, which President Trump won by a slim majority.

• The Muscogee County elections board had "found 'probable cause' to pursue" a challenge from Alton Russell, who chairs the Muscogee County Republican Party, on the residency of the registered voters, per the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
• But the judge found there was not enough evidence to support the case. Politico notes that the evidence in the Muscogee County "was particularly sparse."

Of note: Muscogee County asked the judge to recuse herself from the case given her voting rights advocate sister has filed a separate electoral lawsuit. But Judge Abrams Gardner said in her decision that the court "finds no basis for recusal."

• Read the order, via DocumentCloud:

Go deeper: New tool watches for voter purges ahead of Georgia runoffs

Editor's note: This a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.