ICYMI: “Georgia’s Elections are Facing Interference…”

Atlanta, Ga. – Georgia’s State Election Board will convene at 9:00 a.m. this morning to consider 11 last-minute election rule changes. In case you missed it, former State Senator Eric Johnson, a Republican and chair of RightCount’s operations in Georgia, is out with an op-ed in today’s edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In it, Johnson urges the GOP-led State Election Board and Georgia Democrats to refrain from making election rule and ballot changes at the 11^th hour. We have appended excerpts from the op-ed below.

This piece comes on the heels of a report by Greg Bluestein yesterday in Politically Georgia, the AJC’s daily tipsheet, that RightCount has launched statewide ads featuring “everyday Georgians expressing their faith in the state’s voting system.”

Note: “And a new conservative organization called RightCount led by Eric Johnson, once the top Republican in the Georgia Senate, is launching a series of ads, including one featuring everyday Georgians expressing their faith in the state’s voting system. ‘I believe that we have always been secure in Georgia, but I actually went down to the Fulton County precinct and watched them count the votes,’ said Marcy Walker, an educator, in the ad’s opening. The efforts join the push by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to build faith in Georgia’s election system and sound alarms over rules approved by the board that critics say could be abused to dispute the results of the November vote.”

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Georgia’s elections are facing interference from both sides

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Eric Johnson
September 20, 2024 | 5:00 a.m.

LINK

A group of Trump loyalists is trying to push through certification changes, and Democrats are trying to change the ballot. All of it must stop.

“As Georgians, we can feel lucky that we have some of the strongest voting safeguards and election reforms in America. And yet, despite the fact that voters here can be confident that their vote will count and our elections process is secure, partisan interests are pursuing last-minute changes that could test that confidence.

“As a state senator, I took an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Georgia. These documents, along with the rule of law, guarantee that the people possess the powers of self-government through free and fair elections. That’s why I’m working with RightCount, an organization dedicated to fortifying and protecting the rule of law in Georgia’s vote-counting process and defending election officials who perform their constitutional and statutory duties without fear or favor.

“Georgia maintains a rigorous and open process to ensure that the voice of every voter is heard. Before a single vote is cast, counties first have to build and proof ballots. This is the process that ensures that candidates are listed correctly on the ballot and that they are tied to the correct districts so that voters receive the proper ballot when they vote. In addition to preparing ballots, every single piece of election equipment must be tested to ensure proper functionality prior to use.

“Everyone knows that once the game has started, it’s not fair to change the rules and procedures. You would hope that the major political parties would ascribe to such a basic principle, but the fact is that there are currently efforts by those affiliated with both parties to change the rules, even though the election process is already underway.

“On one side, the three members of the State Election Board that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has praised as “pit bulls” for “victory” are seeking to pass a series of 11 last-minute rule changes on Sept. 20 that require hand-counting of ballots at polling places, modify the manner in which counties distribute absentee ballots and even change the way absentee ballots are printed. The board has yet to identify any emergency circumstances that could possibly justify changing the election rules so close to the start of voting. In fact, the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, an organization of election officials who will bear the brunt of these changes in a compressed time frame, has expressed concern that these new rules would create confusion and could lead to errors or delays in vote counting.

“At the same time, Georgia Democrats are working to remove the names of Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent candidates Cornel West and Claudia de la Cruz from the ballot so they don’t draw support from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president. Each of these candidates was found to be qualified for the ballot by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Georgia law already allows election administrators to post notices at all polling locations informing voters that votes for a particular candidate won’t count if a candidate is disqualified late in the process, but Democrats are instead pushing to have the state squander taxpayer money and place election timelines in jeopardy by reprinting ballots.

“The stakes are high, but the solution is simple: Let the 2024 elections proceed under the established rules and safeguards that are already in place. We owe it to the voters of Georgia to protect their right to vote, unimpeded by partisan gamesmanship.”

To read Senator Johnson’s op-ed in its entirety, click here.

For more information on RightCount’s operations in Georgia visit www.rightcount.org/georgia.