Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has initiated investigations into various groups, including one founded by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and “voter suppression” alarmist Stacey Abrams, for seeking to “aggressively” register “ineligible, out-of-state, or deceased voters” before the January 5 runoff elections.
Raffensperger’s office on Wednesday said the investigations probe groups like America Votes, Vote Forward and The New Georgia Project — which was founded by Abrams and previously chaired by Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock.
For weeks, Raffensperger warned against registering individuals who are ineligible to vote in Georgia’s runoff elections and against encouraging people to come to Georgia with the sole aim of casting ballots in the election.
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“I have issued clear warnings several times to groups and individuals working to undermine the integrity of elections in Georgia through false and fraudulent registrations,” Raffensperger said in a statement Wednesday. “The security of Georgia’s elections is of the utmost importance.”
On Wednesday, the secretary of state stated that his office has “received specific evidence that these groups have solicited voter registrations from ineligible individuals who have passed away or live out of state.”
“I will investigate these claims thoroughly and take action against anyone attempting to undermine our elections,” he assured.
Earlier this week, Raffensperger said that America Votes “is sending absentee ballot applications to people at addresses where they have not lived since 1994.”
Vote Forward, he asserted, “attempted to register a dead Alabama voter, a woman, to vote here in Georgia.” He also spotlighted The New Georgia Project, “who sent voter registration applications to New York City.”
The secretary of state also highlighted the activities of “Operation New Voter Registration Georgia, who is telling college students in Georgia that they can change their residency to Georgia and then change it back after the election.”
According to Raffensperger, his office has “23 investigators working on 250 open investigations into “credible claims of illegal voting.”
Per the Georgia Code, false registration (the act of someone who registering to vote knowing that they do not possess the qualifications required by law) is a felony that can be punished by between one and 10 years in prison and/or up to a $100,000 fine.
Raffensperger’s office on Wednesday detailed several instances in which the Abrams-Warnock associated group, The New Georgia Project, have allegedly solicited voters living out of state and people who have passed away. Warnock was chairman of the group until January.
Raffensperger’s office made reference to one Fulton County resident who claimed to have received five postcards from The New Georgia Project soliciting a registration “for the same dead person,” along with a Cherokee County resident who received a voter registration solicitation from The New Georgia Project for his spouse who is ineligible to vote.
Still a third person, according to Raffensperger’s office, said The New Georgia Project sent a voter registration solicitation to his daughter, who is not registered to vote in Georgia, while a fourth individual reportedly received a “package of postcards” at her home in New York City from The New Georgia Project encouraging people to register to vote in the Georgia Senate runoffs.
According to Georgia election officials, Operation New Voter Registration GA encouraged Emory students to register fraudulently to vote in the January 5 runoffs. A flier from the group told students, “Your current residence can be another state. You are simply changing your state of residence now; and it can be switched back for future elections (your option).”
Nonprofit Vote Forward, meanwhile, sent a letter to a long-deceased Alabama resident, encouraging her to register to vote. And America Votes, which calls itself “the coordination hub of the progressive community,” sent two absentee ballot applications in one week to an individual at an address where the individual had not resided since July 1994.
As Fox News notes:
In Georgia, where state law dictates a runoff if no candidate reaches 50% of the vote, GOP Sen. David Perdue narrowly missed avoiding a runoff, winning 49.75% of the vote. Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff trails by roughly 87,000 votes.
In the other race, appointed Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler captured nearly 26% of the vote in a whopping 20-candidate special election to fill the final two years of the term of former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson. The Democratic candidate in the runoff, Rev. Raphael Warnock, won nearly 33% of the vote in the first round.
The balance of the Senate is at stake in the runoff. If Democrats win both seats, their number in the chamber will go up to 50-50, a tie that can be broken by a Democrat Vice President should Kamala Harris make it to the White House with Joe Biden.
