Federal judges have ruled that the state of Georgia must allow voters whose eligibility is suspect to cast a ballot on Nov. 4. Voting rights groups had filed suit against Secretary of State Karen Handel and her office’s efforts to verify the citizenship status of nearly 5,000 Georgians. An additional 50,000 Georgians have been flagged for discrepancies between their voter registration forms and other government databases.

The new checking system, the judges said, should have been cleared by the U.S. Dept. of Justice before being implemented in order to meet requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The ruling calls for all flagged voters in Georgia to be notified of their status. These voters will be allowed to cast a “challenged ballot,” which will later be verified. The judges said they tried to create a compromise solution to ensure that no voters are purged from rolls and that no ineligible persons are allowed to vote.

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