Department of Justice Looking in to SoS Kemp’s Elections Failures

Release:  Thursday, May 5, 2016                                                                                         

Department of Justice Looking in to SoS Kemp’s Elections Failures

Atlanta, GA – Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp just attracted the interest of the Department of Justice for his pattern of failure to properly administer Georgia’s voter registration system. On May 4, The United State Department of Justice filed a “Statement of Interest of the United States” with the Federal Court to probe Kemp’s purges of legitimate voters from Georgia voter rolls. The Department of Justice pointed to specific violations of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. NVRA governs voter registration and the maintenance of voter lists used in federal elections. HAVA establishes minimum standards to be used in federal elections.

“Time and again, Brian Kemp has proven to be unqualified to run a six foot extension cord, much less Georgia’s elections,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter in statement. “This year, Georgia—and the rest of the country—will cast their ballots in the first major election since the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. There’s just too much at stake to trust a sloppy partisan like Kemp to administer our electoral process.”

Over the course of his career, Kemp has attracted attention for his partisan gimmicks to undermine the integrity of Georgia’s elections. The Secretary of State’s website has a well-documented history of inadequacy. Just last year, Kemp’s office violated and undermined the economic security of Georgia voters by publishing private information—including Social Security numbers—of registered voters. Last year’s data breach forced him to spend our tax dollars to recover the disks and provide security services for voters whose privacy was violated.

This year, Kemp admitted to inaccuracies in his own voter registration database that forced an unknown number of voters to vote in districts other than where they actually lived. Kemp has thus far refused to reopen qualifying House District 151, while allowing the Georgia Republic Party to open qualifying in state house primary three times.

Find the DOJ Statement of Interest at this link.