September 2, 2024
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) has enjoyed an unusually friendly public rapport in recent days with former President Donald Trump, reports The Washington Post.
After years of heaping insults on Kemp for refusing to help reverse Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, Trump praised the governor on Truth Social this month for his “help and support.” On Thursday, August 22, Kemp attended a fundraiser in Atlanta for the Republican presidential nominee, who is locked in a virtual tie with Vice President Kamala Harris in polling of the critical swing state.
This week, Kemp asked Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) for an advisory opinion on what authority he has to address ethics complaints against the state board.
The board’s pro-Trump majority has attracted attention in recent weeks for taking up new rules, including one that allows county election boards to make “reasonable inquiries” before certifying an election if they have questions about the outcome.
The rule does not specify what a “reasonable inquiry” is, and it places no limits on the time frame of such a probe or what documents a board can demand before certifying results. Election experts say delays could open the door to efforts to subvert the outcome along the lines of what Trump and his allies attempted in 2020.
Even more concerning to state and local election officials is a rule the board plans to take up on September 20 that would require all counties to conduct hand counts of ballots at the precinct level on election night. If approved, these officials say, the measure could lead to less accurate results and compromise ballot security by requiring more people to handle them.
“We have had so much security training. We have done so many tabletop exercises. We have been told that the number one priority is security,” said Christina Redden, the assistant election director in Glynn County, who along with hundreds of other election officials was gathered this week at an election-security training in Forsyth, about an hour south of Atlanta. “Ballots are going to be vulnerable while being handled by multiple people at the precinct level.”
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who also attended the training, called the state board “a mess.” “Legal precedent is pretty clear. You shouldn’t change rules in the middle of an election,” he added, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
State and national Democrats sued this week in state court over the certification rule, arguing that it is intended to allow delays despite statutory language requiring certification to happen within six days of an election.
“Allegations of fraud or election misconduct are then resolved by the courts in properly filed challenges, not by county boards in the counting process,” the suit states.
The State Election Board carries a wide range of responsibilities—but is role has typically been far less prominent than that of the secretary of state or others involved in administering Georgia’s vote.
Complicating Kemp’s involvement in the controversy is the fact that Trump has been cheering on the state board’s work, naming each of the three conservatives at his August 3 rally in Atlanta and calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.” He criticized Kemp for not supporting the board’s work, suggesting without evidence that the governor might be opposed to Republicans winning.
Kemp has not said anything publicly in support of or in opposition to the state board’s actions.
Research contact: @washingtonpost
