Democratic Party of Georgia

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Meet the GOP Gubernatorial Candidates

GEORGIA — Today, the Democratic Party of Georgia released two separate videos- one on Brian Kemp, the other on Casey Cagle– highlighting attacks both candidates received during the Republican gubernatorial primary election. Fellow Republicans’ claims about Kemp and Cagle covered a broad range of topics including abuse of power, misuse of taxpayer dollars, favoritism of special interests over Georgia families, potential government cover-ups, and utter incompetence.

With the GOP runoff seven weeks away, Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter says leaders from both parties can agree on one thing- Brian Kemp and Casey Cagle have too much baggage and far too many weaknesses to be considered credible, trustworthy candidates for Governor.

“Casey Cagle has been caught chartering flights like his own personal taxi service,” said Porter. “He’s forced the government to pick him up at his home airport and then forced Georgia taxpayers to pick up the tab. After paying $250,000 dollars to fly Mr. Cagle around the state, Democratic and Republican taxpayers have had enough.

“And Brian Kemp is too incompetent to manage the Secretary of State’s office,” continued Porter. “In charge of protecting our state’s voting records, his office was responsible for two of the largest data breaches in state history. More than 6 million Georgians had their Social Security numbers released, leaving hard-working citizens and businesses vulnerable to attack. Kemp has done nothing but fail at his current job.

“It is clear Republicans are left with two bad options to carry them into November.”

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GA Democrats Become Only State Party in Nation to Hire Full-time Voter Protection Director

Democrats tap Sara Tindall Ghazal to head elections integrity program

Release:  Monday, February 19, 2018    

Atlanta, GA – Today, Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Rebecca DeHart announced the hire of Sara Tindall Ghazal to serve as the Party’s Voter Protection Director. With the hire of Ghazal, the DPG becomes the only state party in the nation to currently have a year-round full-time Director dedicated to protecting the integrity of a state elections system.

“With so much at stake in November, Georgia Democrats are expanding a permanent infrastructure to protect the integrity of each and every vote,” said DeHart in a statement. “Our state in particular knows the pain inflicted when Republican officials restrict or outright deny access to the polls. With the record of sloppiness and incompetency from our own Secretary of State to recent revelation of the indictment of 13 Russian individuals by the U.S. Department of Justice for elections interference, it is our obligation to protect the very fiber of our democracy at all costs. The DPG is truly fortunate to have the caliber of elections knowledge found in Sara.”

Sara Tindall Ghazal joins the DPG with more than a decade of experience in democratization and conflict resolution. An accomplished attorney, Sara brings a wealth of knowledge in protecting and expanding civil liberties—including monitoring elections in Jamaica, Liberia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and the Cherokee Nation.

“I look forward to working with state party officials and staff to defend the right to vote for every single Georgian—regardless of party affiliation,” said Ghazal. “With their support and that of our elected leaders, we will bring a new level of accountability in the elections process in every corner of this state, up and down the ballot.”

Elections in Georgia have come under an increasing scrutiny for mismanagement and voter suppression—damage inflicted disproportionately upon communities of color, students, and the elderly. Under the current Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, Georgians have had their personal information compromised, twice had their elections system breached, and saw the purge of tens of thousands of voters from the rolls.

More information on the state of elections in Georgia can be found here and here.

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GA Secretary of State Scandal Worsens: Elections Server WIPED

Server in question “crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials”

APNewsBreak: Georgia election server wiped after suit filed

AP — 10/26/2017

A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed, The Associated Press has learned.

The server’s data was destroyed July 7 by technicians at the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University, which runs the state’s election system. The data wipe was revealed in an email — sent last week from an assistant state attorney general to plaintiffs in the case — that was obtained by the AP. More emails obtained in a public records request confirmed the wipe.

The lawsuit, filed by a diverse group of election reform advocates, aims to force Georgia to retire its antiquated and heavily criticized election technology. The server in question, which served as a statewide staging location for key election-related data, made national headlines in June after a security expert disclosed a gaping security hole that wasn’t fixed six months after he reported it to election authorities.

…The server data could have revealed whether Georgia’s most recent elections were compromised by malicious hackers. The plaintiffs contend that the results of both last November’s election and a special June 20 congressional runoff— won by Kemp’s predecessor, Karen Handel — cannot be trusted.

…Kemp and his GOP allies insist Georgia’s elections system is secure. But Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, a plaintiff, believes the server data was erased precisely because the system isn’t secure.

“I don’t think you could find a voting systems expert who would think the deletion of the server data was anything less than insidious and highly suspicious,” she said.

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Previously: Timeline of Events Regarding KSU Breach

Brian Kemp’s Cheap Political Parlor Tricks

Atlanta, GA – Just days before National Voter Registration Day, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is once again abusing his office for political gain by pushing voter suppression efforts that disproportionately affect the elderly, communities of color, and low-income voters. Now mounting a bid for governor, Georgia’s Chief Election Officer has waged a war against ballot access that would make Kris Kobach proud.

“Brian Kemp would no doubt prefer folks pay attention to voter fraud witch hunts than examine his record. Just like Kris Kobach and Donald Trump, Kemp has spent his career lying about voter fraud in an attempt to suppress the votes of working families and minority communities. Such a fundamental right should not be a partisan issue—this is about our democracy and our American values.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director

While Kemp’s record of mismanagement and incompetence spans years, one needs to look no further than this very year:

For Second Time in Two Years, Millions of Georgia Voters Left Vulnerable in Data Breach. The FBI opened an investigation at Kennesaw State University’s Center for Election System for an alleged data breach. 7.5 million Georgia voter records may have been involved. In 2015, Brian Kemp’s office disclosed the social security numbers and other personal information of more than six million voters. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 3/3/17]

Technology Experts Call for Paper Ballots in Georgia Amid Suspected Cyber Attack, Data Breach, and Vulnerable Voting Machines. The organization Verified Voting expressed concern with Georgia’s lack of paper ballots to verify machine voting. [The Associated Press, 3/14/2017]

 

In Advance of GA-06 Special Election, Kemp Sued by Five Civil Rights and Civic Engagement Groups. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Georgia NAACP, and others, filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the state violated the National Voter Registration Act by setting the voter registration deadline for the runoff election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District for 3 months before the election. Under federal law, Georgia cannot set the registration deadline any earlier than 30 days before the election. [Huffington Post, 4/21/2017]

Judge Rules Kemp Violated Voter Registration Act, Re-Opens Voter Registration Period Ahead of GA-06 Special Election. U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten struck down the early voter registration deadline as part of a broader lawsuit brought by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Georgia NAACP, and others, accusing Georgia of violating federal law by reducing the amount of time residents have to register to vote. [New York Magazine, 5/5/2017]

Kemp Complies with Trump Administration’s Request For Georgia Voter Information. In the aftermath of President Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 election, Kemp complied with the Administration’s commission on election integrity request for Georgia voter information, while many other states announced their intentions to refuse the request. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 6/30/17]

Georgia Begins Phasing In Paper Balloting To Address Vulnerable Voting Machines.  In the aftermath of a suspected cyber attack, Georgia will utilize paper ballots in an upcoming municipal election in Conyers, Georgia as a pilot effort. The effort comes as experts warn against machine only voting. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 9/5/17]

Trump’s DHS Chief Derides Holdout States Like Georgia for Not Accepting Cybersecurity Assistance. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said states that aren’t asking Washington for help in protecting their election systems from hackers are “nuts.” [Politico, 7/19/17]

More information on Brian Kemp’s record can be found here.

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Update on Georgia Voter Purge

Friends,

As the summer winds down, we see continuing attacks on our voting rights.  Whether due to actions by the Justice Department, the Commission on Voting Integrity, our own Secretary of State, or our counties, we must remain vigilant to protect these rights. So, with this message we reach out to you to find out if you have been contacted in connection with the on-going purge of inactive voters or the moving of active voters to inactive status. We would appreciate it if you would fill out the form through the link below if you have been contacted for either of these purposes. In addition, if you have friends who have received communications of this type, please pass on this form to them so we can gather this information from as many sources as possible. This information is important for us to have as we monitor the Secretary of State.

Voter Roll Form

If you received communication that you would be placed on the inactive list that means they need to hear from you or with the passage of enough time you will be taken off the voter role, i.e., you will be “purged.” You are still authorized to vote if you are on the inactive voter list. So long as you either vote in the next federal election or contact the superintendent of elections in your county you will be returned to active voter status.  You should have received a form to complete. Please do that.  If you do not still have the form, reach out to us through the link we have above and we will get you the appropriate information to contact your county superintendent of elections so you will be placed back into active status.

If you received a notification that you were removed from the voting list, you must re-register. Please use this link to register again or go into a Driver’s License Bureau or other location for voter registration. Unfortunately, once taken off the voting rolls this is the only effective way of being sure you are registered. If you re-register online you will be required to show photo identification for registration when you vote. If you register in person, be prepared with those materials. Photo identification requirements can be found here.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. The efforts to suppress our vote are real.  We must fight back.

 

Sincerely,

 

Pinney Allen

Chair, Voter Protection Committee

 

 

Voter Protection Chair LTE: Georgia’s outdated voting machines threaten fair elections

Savannah Morning News // Letters to the Editor

The New York Times in its editorial, “Combating a Real Threat to Election Integrity,” addresses an important issue for Georgians. The article identifies the many and varied ways in which voting machines in many states – and Georgia is one of them – create an uncertain voting environment.

It is breathtaking to think that anyone believes voting on machines that are over 15 years old is satisfactory. No one would entrust any other part of their lives to a computer that old – a computer beyond warranties and that is not supported by manufacturers. Yet this is only the beginning of the issues that we must address.

The list is long: hours or locations making it difficult to vote; mazes of regulations on absentee voting; complex and discriminatory voter registration requirements; training of poll workers; a dangerous lack of security for machines. I am not alleging that any of these were the deciding factor in the outcome of an election, but when combined with the issues the NYT identifies, that day is not far away and it well could be in Georgia. A comprehensive assessment and prioritization of key steps – as has been recommended to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp by the Department of Homeland Security – to improve the election system would be a far better expenditure of monies than looking for those rare individuals who voted from the grave.

PINNEY ALLEN

Atlanta

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Chair Allen’s letter can also be found in today’s edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Macon Telegraph.

 Georgia’s outdated voting machines threaten fair elections

BACKGROUND

Combating a Real Threat to Election Integrity

New York Times

Congress needs to allocate more money now to help states upgrade their equipment and computer systems, and to perform threat assessments. A key player is the federal Election Assistance Commission, which sets certification standards that almost every state relies on in buying new machines. The commission, established after the 2000 election debacle, has a tiny staff and a budget smaller than a rounding error. Its work has never been more urgently needed, and yet congressional Republicans are perpetually trying to kill it.

SoS Kemp: It’s Only Federal Overreach When a Democrat is President

                                                                                     

 

SoS Kemp: It’s Only Federal Overreach When a Democrat is President

Atlanta, GA –

 

“Brian Kemp has consistently stonewalled efforts that would ensure the integrity of our elections system. Now, just a little over a year after he handed out our private information unprovoked, he’s being asked by a panel of the nation’s leading voter suppression experts to willingly hand out that information once again and more. This move by the Trump administration is a blatant, partisan trick to suppress votes. With hostile foreign governments subverting American elections, we do not need to make our elections even more vulnerable. Georgia Democrats call on Brian Kemp to reject the Trump Administration’s demands, just as he most certainly would with the previous administration.” – DuBose Porter, Chair

 

From The Hill:

The vice chairman of President Trump’s commission on election integrity sent a letter to all 50 states Wednesday requesting information on their voter rolls.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is seeking several pieces of information about voters, including their names, birthdays, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers and their voting history dating back to 2006.

The letter, sent to the secretaries of state of all 50 states and obtained by The Hill, directs states to turn over “publicly-available voter roll data  including, if publicly available under the laws of your state, the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available, addresses, dates of birth, political party (if recorded in your state), last four digits of social security number if available, [and] voter history from 2006 onward.”

 

So, will Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp comply?

 

Last year, when the Department of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Community warned Secretaries of State of a series of high-profile elections system breaches and offered a series of proactive scans and evaluations, Kemp scoffed at the idea. Initially, Kemp accused the government of “federal overreach” and labeled the IC’s offer as an attempt to “subvert the Constitution to achieve the goal of federalizing elections under the guise of security.”

 

In November of 2015, Brian Kemp’s office released the Social Security numbers and private data of more than 6 million Georgia voters. Not only did Kemp’s breach endanger the economic security of millions of Georgians, his mistake cost taxpayers well into the seven figures.

 

Despite multiple warnings from the IC and security experts, and despite black and white evidence of Russian interference in our elections (and evidence of Donald Trump’s interference in the Russia investigation), Kemp remains in the minority of skeptics. According to the Washington Post, “Kemp said in a recent interview, adding that he remains unconvinced that Russia waged a campaign to disrupt the 2016 race. ‘I don’t necessarily believe that,’ he said.”

 

Further information, including a timeline of events, can be found here.

 

 

As SoS, Karen Handel Stonewalled Measures to Ensure Integrity of Elections System

Atlanta, GA – By now, it’s no secret that career politician Karen Handel has never met an elected office she didn’t want to occupy. But when she does actually get the job, she proves to be quite unskilled and unqualified.

“Karen Handel put her own personal agenda and ambition over her duties as Georgia’s chief elections officer, which is exactly what voters have come to expect from career politicians like Handel. Instead of heeding the advice of experts to properly administer our elections, she buried the report while having one foot out the door campaigning for her next elected office.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director 

The Washington Post reports:

Eleven years ago, after Karen Handel had been elected as Georgia’s first Republican secretary of state since Reconstruction, Richard DeMillo, head of the Office of Policy Analysis and Research at Georgia Tech, got a call about an important project. The state’s election system, updated with new machines, needed a hard look.

“They said: Take a look at our processes, take a look at our technology, and give us your opinion,” DeMillo said. “I assigned some people from our Information Security Center to work on it.”

In May 2008, the Georgia Tech Information Security Center and Office of Policy Analysis and Research released its report, “A Security Study of the Processes and Procedures Surrounding Electronic Voting in Georgia.” A number of potential problems came up, from the transportation of election machines by prison laborers to password protection of machines and poll-watcher training.

“A malicious party with minimal knowledge of the voting machines could gain the confidence of the poll workers and thus access to the voting units,” the authors wrote. And the state’s Center for Election Systems, at Kennesaw State University, also was at risk. “The election center at Kennesaw State University fills a key role in Georgia’s statewide election procedures, which makes it a potential target of a systemic attack.”

In 2017, the threat became real; there was a data breach at Kennesaw State. While the Georgia secretary of state’s office said that key equipment was not touched, a lawsuit was filed in which worried parties demanded paper ballots in the June 20 special election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. The plaintiffs lost, but concerns about the state’s 15-year old election system have bubbled up as Democrat Jon Ossoff campaigns against his Republican opponent — Karen Handel.

According to DeMillo, she didn’t follow up on the report.

“She seemed very interested in getting this, at the time,” he said. “Once she was in office for a few months, we heard nothing.”

A recent report from Politico also illustrates a Secretary of State Handel who ignored multiple warnings and actively resisted assistance in ensuring the integrity of Georgia’s elections system:

Someone who should be particularly concerned about the center’s security lapses and the use of the touch-screen machines in the upcoming election is Handel, the Republican vying for the 6th Congressional District seat. In 2006, when Handel ran for secretary of state of Georgia, she made the security of the state’s voting systems one of her campaign issues. After her win, she ordered a security review of the systems and the procedures for using them.

Experts at Georgia Tech conducted the review and found a number of security concerns, which they discussed in a report submitted to Handel. But, oddly, they were prohibited from examining the center’s network or reviewing its security procedures. Richard DeMillo, who was dean of computing at Georgia Tech at the time and led the review, told Politico he and his team argued with officials from the center in Handel’s office, but they were adamant that its procedures and networks would not be included in the review.

“I thought it was very strange,” says DeMillo. “It was kind of a contentious meeting. The Kennesaw people just stamped their foot and said ‘Over our dead body.’”

Although Handel could have insisted that the center’s network be included in the security review, she didn’t. But when DeMillo’s team submitted a draft of their report, he says she sent it back instructing them to add a caveat about the center’s absence from the review. It reads: “The Election Center at Kennesaw State University fills a key role in Georgia’s statewide election procedures, which makes it a potential target of a systematic attack. We did not have sufficient information to evaluate the security safeguards protecting against a centralized compromise at the state level.”

But once they delivered the finished report to Handel, DeMillo says, “We never heard anything more about it.” It’s not clear whether Handel’s office acted on recommendations made in the report. (Handel’s campaign office did not respond to a call for comment.)

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Georgia Democrats Demand Action & Transparency from SoS Brian Kemp Regarding Elections System Data Breach

Release:  Monday, March 13, 2017                                                                         

Atlanta, GA – Today, leaders at the Democratic Party sent a letter to the Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, demanding that he partake in the election security measures provided by the Department of Homeland Security prior to the upcoming election in the 6th Congressional District. This effort was precipitated by the news that Georgia’s Election System has been breached as recently as the last month and the action necessitated the involvement of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The Department of Homeland Security urgently warned states during the 2016 election that such attacks might— and later did— occur. The Department offered a series of proactive security measures at no cost to the states to ensure that the election systems in each of the state were uncorrupted. Brian Kemp represented only a handful of states that refused the assistance.

Over the past week, leaders at the DPG have consulted with leading legal authorities about their concerns about the security of the elections in Georgia— particularly because the Special Election in the 6th Congressional District has garnered intense national attention.

“The voters of the 6th Congressional District— regardless of Party affiliation— deserve to know that their personal information is intact and that the election they are about to participate in is secure and that it will be conducted accurately,” said Chairman DuBose Porter.

The Democratic Party and its team of Voter Protection lawyers are making this request today so that the Department of Homeland Security, as an impartial third party, can conduct their security measures prior to the start of Early Vote on March 27th. Absent the scrutiny from the agency, the Party is asking that the election be conducted on paper ballot as those ballots have already been created and printed for absentee and overseas voters and the counties already have the proper scanning machines needed to count the ballots.

The letter sent to the Secretary of State’s Office— and CCed widely to other state leaders— can be found at this link. Below and at this link is a timeline of events that led the Democratic Party to take this action.

Georgia Elections Cybersecurity Timeline

August 15, 2016 – Dept. of Homeland Security hosted a phone call with members of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and other Chief Election Officials to discuss the cybersecurity of the election infrastructure. Secretary Johnson offered the assistance of the Department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) to conduct vulnerability scans, provide actionable information, and access to other tools and resources for improving cybersecurity. – DHS.Gov

Media reports relay that “Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp was very vocal in the telephone call in telling Johnson the states don’t need any help from the federal government.”

August 18, 2016 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation issues a cyber bulletin headlined Targeting Activity Against State Board of Election Systems. The bulletin stated they “received information of an additional IP address, 5.149.249.172, which was detected in the July 2016 compromise of a state’s Board of Election Web site. Additionally, in August 2016 attempted intrusion activities into another state’s Board of Election system identified the IP address, 185.104.9.39 used in the aforementioned compromise.” – Yahoo News

August 25, 2016 – Georgia SoS Brian Kemp tells Nextgov it the Office of SoS will rely on its own security crew to maintain the integrity of voter data, stating in a written email “The question remains whether the federal government will subvert the Constitution to achieve the goal of federalizing elections under the guise of security…Designating voting systems or any other election system as critical infrastructure would be a vast federal overreach, the cost of which would not equally improve the security of elections in the United States.” – Nextgov / The Hill

September 16, 2016 – DHS Secretary Johnson states “We have also seen some efforts at cyber intrusions of voter registration data maintained in state election systems.” DHS also announces services available to state election officials to assist in their cybersecurity. Some of the services included:

Cyber hygiene scans on Internet-facing systems, Field-based cybersecurity advisors and protective security advisors, Risk and vulnerability assessments, a 24×7 cyber incident response center, and information sharing through the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. – DHS

September 28, 2016 – Brian Kemp testifies before the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Technology. In his prepared remarks, Kemp says “It is not the time for inexperienced federal agencies to guess at changes that should be made.”

When asked by Congresswoman Robin Kelly what Congress could do to help secretaries of state, Kemp says “I would encourage Congress to let the states be flexible in what systems they’re using. I think there’s great value in that.” – US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

October 7, 2016 – DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warn they are “confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.”

They also announce “some states have also recently seen scanning and probing of their election-related systems, which in most cases originated from servers operated by a Russian company.”

Again, DHS “continues to urge state and local election officials to be vigilant and seek cybersecurity assistance from DHS. A number of states have already done so.” – DHS

October 10, 2016 – DHS urges holdout states like Georgia to join 33 states and 11 county or local election agencies to take advantage of election cybersecurity services. – DHS

October 31, 2016 – By this date, 46 states had accepted DHS’s offer to scan their elections systems. Georgia remained one of four that still declined DHS assistance. – CNN

November 4, 2016 – DHS says they are “very concerned” by the possibility of a cybersecurity incident causing confusion on Election Day. – CNN

March 2, 2017 – Kennesaw State University notifies state officials of a data breach in at their Center for Election Systems. – AJC

March 3, 2017 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation opens an investigation in to the KSU breach. Reports state that as many as 7.5 million voter records were involved, also noting that the latest breach would be the “second time in as many years” Georgia voters have had their personal information compromised.

Governor Nathan Deal’s office says it asked the GBI to contact the FBI after learning of the breach.

Brian Kemp says very little, except that his office reached out to law enforcement upon learning of the incident.

KSU issues a statement that afternoon, stating they were “working with federal law enforcement officials to determine whether and to what extent a data breach may have occurred involving records maintained by the Center for Election Systems.” – AJC

March 13, 2017 – Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter sends formal letter of request to Brian Kemp demanding he contact DHS immediately and accept their repeated offer to scan Georgia’s elections infrastructure, make public the extent of the latest breach, identify a process for assuring the security of all aspects of Georgia’s voting systems, and a request for a paper ballot process in the special election in the 6th Congressional District if Kemp is unable to assure a fair and accurate election.

Previously, the Office of the Secretary of State exposed the personal information and social security numbers of more than six million Georgia voters. – AJC

The two breaches in the span in two years have been a pattern of mismanagement and disarray at the Office of the Secretary of State under Brian Kemp’s leadership. – GeorgiaVRA.org

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Seemingly Oblivious to His Own Record, GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp Pulls a Trump

Release:  Wednesday, October 26, 2016                                                                

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump isn’t the only Republican unraveling on social media. Following Trump’s bizarre Twitter meltdown over what he calls a “rigged election” and his dangerous refusal to say he will accept the election results, Georgia’s Chief apparently felt the need to get in on the fear-mongering action by issuing his own baseless tweets railing against individuals who are trying to expand voting access. And yesterday, he took to Facebook to double down on his contempt for those who have shed a light on his appalling record.

“In the past month alone, Georgia voters have had to deal with Kemp’s dysfunctional website that harmed their ability to register to vote, and his stubborn refusal to extend registration deadlines after a massive natural disaster. Sadly this is par for the course. Georgians need a Secretary of State who is able to fulfill the basic functions of his job – not someone who defensively takes to social media to point his finger at others every time he fails to protect the integrity of our voting system. But most of all, Georgia needs a full reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act so that all citizens, regardless of the competence of our chief elections officer, have the ability to exercise their most basic constitutional right by casting a vote.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director.

Under Brian Kemp’s watch, barrier after barrier has been erected to make it harder for Georgians to register and cast their vote. His record speaks for itself:

Brian Kemp has been Georgia’s Secretary of State since January 2010. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting efficient and secure elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities and professional license holders. The office also oversees the Georgia Archives. [Georgia Secretary of State’s Website, 2/15/2013]

ILLEGAL VOTER PURGES AND “STRICT MATCHING” 

Brian Kemp Sued For Blocking Thousands Of Minority Voters From Rolls
In September of 2016, The Georgia NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda and the legal nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta filed a federal lawsuit against Brian Kemp for disenfranchising thousands of minorities ahead of the presidential election, alleging that the state’s “strict matching” requirement for information on registration forms blocked them from voter rolls. According to the suit, the state denied 34,874 registration applications from 2013 to 2016 due to mismatched information. Of those, black applicants were eight times more likely to fail the state’s verification process than white applicants, and Latinos and Asian-Americans were six times more likely to fail, according to the suit. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution 9/14/2016]

Brian Kemp’s Spokeswoman Accuses Civil Rights Plaintiffs of Trying to Disrupt Voter Registration 
Brian Kemp’s spokeswoman stated that the September 2016 lawsuit challenging the practice of “strict matching” was “an effort by liberal groups to disrupt voter registration just weeks before an important election.” The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of civil and voting rights groups. [The Daily Report, 9/26/16]

After Being Sued, Brian Kemp Agrees to Restore Tens of Thousands of Blocked Voters To Rolls
Tens of thousands of voters whose registrations were canceled will be restored to the voter rolls before the November election after Brian Kemp agreed to suspend a longtime practice of canceling registrations that the state NAACP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, and others had filed suit to stop on September 14th. Kemp concession came the same day that a judge in Ohio ruled the practice of purging voters from the rolls who had not voted in four years was a violation of federal voting laws. Kemp faces a similar pending lawsuit in Georgia. [The Daily Report, 9/26/16]

Brian Kemp’s Office Sued By NAACP and Common Cause For Illegal Purge of Thousands from Georgia’s Voters Rolls.
The National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) specifically prohibits states from initiating voter registration purges against individuals for failure to vote; however, Georgia initiates such purging programs precisely after identifying individuals who have failed to vote for the previous three years. Due to the state’s practice, as of June 2015, over 800,000 Georgians have been placed on an inactive list – due to voting inactivity – and await being removed permanently unless they either respond to a notice or appear to vote within the following two election cycles. [Common Cause, 11/24/2015]

United States Department of Justice Filed “Statement of Interest” Regarding Brian Kemp’s Voter Purge.
On May 4 2016, The United State Department of Justice filed a “Statement of Interest” with the Federal Court in a pending lawsuit probing Kemp’s purges of voters from Georgia’s voter rolls. The Department of Justice argued that Kemp’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit should be denied and pointed to specific violations of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. The NVRA governs voter registration and the maintenance of voter lists used in federal elections. HAVA establishes minimum standards to be used in federal elections. [Statement of Interest of the United States, 5/4/2016]

Brian Kemp’s Election Director Resigned After Kemp’s Office Illegally Purged Nearly 8,000 Voters From Rolls.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s election director resigned after illegally purging nearly 8,000 voters in the run-up to 2014’s May 20 primaries. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/3/2015]

INTIMIDATING ORGANIZERS REGISTERING AND MOBILIZING VOTERS OF COLOR WITH PROSECUTION 

Brian Kemp’s Office Launched Investigation into Twelve Organizers in Quitman County.
After an investigation by the Secretary of State’s office, state agents arrested a dozen African American voting organizers, three of whom had been elected to the county school board. With the charges pending, Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, issued an executive order temporarily removing the three newly elected school members from their posts, and reinstating the county’s white-majority school board. Four years after the election in question, the state dropped all charges against the group. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Lula Smart Faced 32 Felony Counts For Mailing Absentee Ballots.
A Quitman resident named Lula Smart faced 32 felony counts that could have carried more than a hundred years in prison, largely for charges of carrying envelopes containing completed absentee ballots to the mailbox for voters. Four years later, after three trials, a jury in Quitman cleared Lula Smart on every count against her. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Debra Dennard Faced Two Felony Voter Fraud Charges For Assisting Blind Father With Absentee Ballot.
Quitman resident, Debra Dennard, faced two felony charges of voter fraud for helping her father fill out his absentee ballot. Her father, David Dennard, is missing both legs and is partially blind. Mr. Dennard says that with his daughter’s assistance he voted for just who he wanted to without any coercion or meddling. “All she did was help me—just as she helps me with almost everything… I knew who I wanted to vote for, and I signed the ballot myself.” [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Bessie Hamilton Intimidated In to Signing Statement Against Lula Smart.
Bessie Hamilton testified that one of Kemp’s investigators came to the doctor’s office where she worked, took her into an unused break room, and intimidated her into signing a statement against [Lula] Smart. “I was scared,” she said on the stand. “This man came to my job with a gun, and on top of that, he told me I could have went to jail.” [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Sandra Cody Removed From Her Job Due To Fraud Charges.
Quitman resident Sandra Cody was removed from her longtime Head Start teaching jobs because of the pending voting charges. “They said were not supposed to be around children,” Cody said, “because we have this on our record.” Although the charges were dropped weeks after their removal, bureaucratic red tape delayed their return to those jobs until February. Cody fell behind on her rent and utility bills because of the loss of work. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Office Targets the New Georgia Project.
In September of 2014 Brian Kemp announced an investigation against the New Georgia Project, an organization with the goal of registering 120,000 voters of color prior to the 2014 election. The Secretary of State confirmed only 50 potential “forgeries” among the tens of thousands the registration forms that the group had submitted, amounting to roughly 0.001 percent of the New Georgia Project’s submissions. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

“We have not detected from anything that [the group’s leaders] have said or done that it is a goal of the New Georgia Project to go out and commit voter registration fraud,” Kemp’s lead investigator said on September 17th, according to an opinion blog of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Office Fails To Add 40,000 Voters Of Color To Rolls in 2014.
In October of 2014, The New Georgia Project engaged in a legal battle with the Secretary of State to ascertain the whereabouts of 40,000 voter registration applications that were submitted prior to the registration deadline, but had yet to appear on the voter rolls. [NPR, 10/22/2014]

Brian Kemp’s Office Claimed 40,000 Missing Voter Registrations Did Not Exist.
After accusations that 40,000 voter registrations submitted by the New Georgia Project and other nonprofit organizations, did not appear on the rolls, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office claimed that the voter registrations did not exist. “The claim that there are over 40,000 unprocessed voter registration applications is absolutely false,” he said. “The counties have processed all the voter registration applications that they have received for the general election.” [NPR, 10/22/2014]

Brian Kemp’s Office Delays Adding Thousands Of Voters To The Rolls Until After Election Day.
Despite Claiming that no such voter registration forms existed, 18,000 of the voter registration forms submitted by The New Georgia Project by the registration deadline were added to the rolls three to nine months after Election Day 2014. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/11/2016]

While Kemp said that “the counties have processed all of the voter registration applications that they received for the general election,” new voters were not found on the voter rolls. Diamond Walton registered to vote with the New Georgia Project in August of 2014. She finally received a registration card in October. On Election Day, when she arrived at her polling place she was not on the rolls and was told to fill out a provisional ballot. Instead, Ms. Walton called a lawyer from the New Georgia Project who, after numerous calls to officials, found her name on a supplemental list. [The New York Times, 11/4/2016]

Newly Naturalized Citizen Voters Turned Away From Polls In 2012.
In the weeks prior to the 2012 General Election, Helen Ho, Executive Director of Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, discovered that newly naturalized citizens her organization had worked to register were not on the voter rolls. Early voting had begun and polling places were challenging and turning away new citizens seeking to vote for the first time. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Asian American Legal Advocacy Center Denounces Brian Kemp’s Office For Failure To Add Newly Naturalized Citizen Voters To Rolls.
After the Secretary of State’s office failed to provide adequate answers regarding their failure to add new citizen voters to the rolls, AALAC issued an open letter on October 31 demanding that Georgia take immediate action to ensure the new citizens could vote. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Office Launches Criminal Investigation Against Asian American Legal Advocacy Center.
Two days after the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center issued an open letter denouncing Brian Kemp’s office for their failure to add newly naturalized citizen voters to the rolls in a timely manner, Brian Kemp’s office launched an investigation into their voter registration efforts. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Kemp’s office asked that AALAC turn over certain records of its registration efforts, citing “potential legal concerns surrounding AALAC’s photocopying and public disclosure of voter registration applications.” The investigation targeted her group not for any voter fraud, per se, but for more technical issues, such as whether canvassers had people’s explicit, written consent to photocopy their registration forms before mailing the originals to the elections office. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Investigation In To AALAC Lasts Two And A Half Years, Finds No Violations.
Brian Kemp’s investigation of Asian American Legal Advocacy Center lasted two and a half years and ended with no finding of violations. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

PARTISAN ACTION AGAINST DEMOCRATS AND REPEATED MISHALNDING OF VOTER FILE DATA IMPACTS ELECTION RESULTS 

Data From Kemp’s Office Leads Residency Challenge Against African American Democratic Candidate for Georgia House District 151.
In March of 2016, James Williams qualified to run for office in House District 151, where he had been living and voting for several years. After the qualifying period had closed, elections officials re-categorized Williams’ street of residence as belonging to House District 154, resulting in a residency challenge. The Secretary of State has declined to re-open the qualifying period to allow another Democratic candidate to run, and has declined to let Williams run in 151. House District 151 is the only majority-minority House district in Georgia currently represented by a Republican. [The New Republic, 4/5/2016]

Republicans and Democrats Treated Differently During The Qualifying Process.
In House District 3, three of the four candidates running for the May 24 Primary were initially disqualified because the Georgia Republican Party failed to provide the elections office with the proper paperwork on time. However, Catoosa County Republican Party Chair Denise Burns said that candidates seeking the House District 3 seat can fill out paperwork to qualify again. An official from the state party informed her that the GOP Executive Committee voted to re-open the qualifying process. Two disqualified Republican candidates were allowed to appear on the May Primary Election ballot. [Times Free Press 4/14/2016] [SOS Website 9/15/16]

Data from Brian Kemp’s Office Leads To Incorrect Ballot Distribution in House Primary
During the 2016 Primary Election, data from Brian Kemp’s office led to at least 30 and potentially 60 voters in House Districts 59 and 60 to cast ballots in the wrong district. The top two vote getting candidates in HD 59 were forty votes apart. [Creative Loafing, 9/9/2016]

Brian Kemp Warns Republican Allies That Democrats Are Registering Minority Voters.
At a July 12th, 2014 event with Republicans in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Brian Kemp advocated that Republicans register voters, and also stated, “…Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.” [Think Progress 9/11/2014]

Brian Kemp’s Office Released the Personal Information, Including Social Security Number, of Registered Georgia Voters – 6 million Individuals.
The October 2015 voter file distributed to news organizations and other entities that purchase the information included private data such as voters’ social security numbers and driver license numbers. Third parties can legally buy the voter lists from the state, but the lists should only include a voter’s name, residential or mailing address, race, gender, registration date and date of last vote cast. Georgia’s data release was one of the larger disseminations of private data for a U.S. state. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/18/2015]

REDUCING ACCESS TO VOTING FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

The Macon-Bibb Board of Registration and Elections Moved a Precinct from Memorial Gym to the Sheriff’s Office. In early 2016 The Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections decided to move the Memorial Gym polling place to a sheriff’s building near Second Street and Houston Avenue because of ongoing construction at the gym. That plan drew fire from various civil rights groups, including the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, which alleged that the proposed location could alienate some minorities. [The Macon Telegraph, 4/21/2016]

Upson County Polling Closures Leads to Heavy Traffic on Election Day.
In March of 2016, polling places in Upson County experienced heavy traffic during Georgia’s presidential primary vote. “I’d never seen anything like it,” said Kay King, a member of the local board of elections who worked the polls that day. “It was just unreal.” Although King doesn’t believe the precinct consolidation was designed to discriminate against minority voters, she said she voted against the plan because it eliminated the sole polling site in her district, which she said has a high population of minority residents. “Some of those people don’t have transportation so they have a hard time getting back and forth to other precincts,” King said. “We lost that precinct, so now those people will have to travel a little further.” [VICE, 4/16/2016]

Georgia Is One of Only Three States to Check Citizenship on the Front End of Voter Registration.
Georgia is only one of three states to check citizenship on the front end of voter registration. In late January 2016, the Election Assistance Commission’s Executive Director Brian Newby, granted the requests of three states — Kansas, Georgia and Alabama — to include the proof-of-citizenship requirement for state elections as a state-specific add-on to the federal form, against prior policy. Before joining the commission, Mr. Newby was a county elections official in Kansas, where he was a close ally of Kris Kobach, one of the nation’s most ardent supporters of restrictive voting laws.  [New York Times, 4/10/2016]

State Board of Elections Encouraged Precinct Closures.
Sandi Fallin, Tift County Elections supervisor, spoke to Tift County commissioners during a workshop, telling them that the state’s Board of Elections has encouraged the local office to consolidate its precincts. [Tifton Gazette, 9/11/2015]

Tift County Plans to Consolidate Precincts from 12 to 1.
In September of 2015 the five-member, majority-conservative Tift County Board of Elections led by its supervisor– Republican Sandi Fallin — planned on consolidating all twelve current voting locations and directing approximately 20,000 registered voters to cast a ballot at Tifton’s UGA Conference Center. [The Examiner, 9/10/2015]

Macon- Bibb County Attempts To Eliminate 14 Polling Precincts.
In January 2015, the Macon-Bibb Board of Elections proposed a plan to reduce or consolidate the County’s 40 precincts down to 26, allegedly as a cost saving device.  Most of the proposed precinct reductions and consolidations in the original plan targeted majority Black precincts. Under that plan, some of the majority Black precincts had over 5000 and 6000 voters. By contrast, no majority white precincts had more than 5,000 voters and, in most cases, had thousands fewer voters than the proposed consolidated precincts in the majority Black communities. In response to organized opposition by community organizations, the BOE reduced the number of precinct closures, but the majority of these closures disproportionately impact Black precincts. The County has failed to explain how it will staff and equip the larger consolidated Black precincts and we will be monitoring the impact of these closures on voters when they attempt to cast ballots in the 2016 elections. [The Lawyers Committee, 5/7/2016] [Macon Telegraph, 5/28/2015]

Upson County Reduces Number of Polling Precincts from 9 to 4 As Cost Cutting Measure.
In July 2015, Upson County’s Board of Elections voted to reduce the number of precincts from nine to four as a cost cutting measure. [The Thomaston Times, 10/19/2015]

Hancock County Precinct Consolidations Create Travel Burdens for Black Rural Voters.
Hancock’s Board of Elections (BOE) planned to close all but one precinct located in downtown Sparta, despite the relatively high voter turnout in the County in 2008 and 2012. While cost-savings was given as a rationale, the BOE did not release data justifying this harsh plan. Precincts proposed for closure were 10.9-16.9 miles from the one remaining precinct, presenting a travel burden for voters living in the majority Black precincts in the mostly poor and rural areas of the County who don’t have access to regularly scheduled transportation. After organized opposition led by the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the Lawyers’ Committee, the BOE decided to close only one of the ten precincts in the district. [The Lawyers Committee, 5/7/2016]

Hancock County Voter Purges Targets Black Voters.
On November 3, 2015, the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda and five black Hancock County voters represented by the Lawyers’ Committee, along with local pro bono co-counsel, filed a voting rights lawsuit against the Hancock County election officials that challenges the purging of black voters from the Hancock County voter registration lists in advance of the November 2015 City of Sparta municipal election. Plaintiffs contend that the actions were intended to suppress the African American vote. According to the suit, almost 17 percent of eligible Sparta voters were challenged and nearly all of the 53 voters purged were Black voters.  Since the lawsuit was filed, following a U.S. District Court order, Hancock officials have reinstated 15 of the 53 voters. [The Lawyers Committee, 5/7/2016]

Police Commanded Black Voters in Hancock County To Prove Validity of Their Registration
As a “courtesy,” court papers state, county sheriff’s deputies served summonses on African American voters targeted for removal from the rolls, commanding them to defend themselves at election board meetings. Some did, and were restored to the rolls.

“A lot of voters are actually calling to say they no longer wish to be on the list, so now we have people coming off the list who no longer want to vote,” Tiffany Medlock, the elections supervisor for the Hancock County elections board, told a Macon television reporter in late September. “It’ll probably affect the City of Sparta’s election in a major way.” [The New York Times 7/31/2016]

SUPER TUESDAY 2016 PRECINCT IRREGULARITIES

Fulton County Precinct Changes Occurred Without Proper Voter Notification.
In March of 2016, voter complaints flooded into Fulton County and the state when residents found out they hadn’t been notified that their voting locations had changed. The county blamed the postal service for not delivering mailers before the March 1 election. Now, the postal service and the secretary of state’s office are investigating. It’s not the first time there have been problems related to voting in Fulton County. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/16/2016] and [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/11/2016] 

Faulty Voting Machines in Fulton County Delay and Deter Voters on Super Tuesday.
Roughly 100 voters in northeast Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood learned that the electronic voting machines were not working the morning of Super Tuesday. According to the precinct manager, the machines were programmed for the wrong precinct. Voters were given the choice of voting on paper or coming back later. Voters learned they would have to wait 30 minutes to cast their ballot on paper. About an hour-and-a-half into the voting, an IT professional from the Fulton County Elections office came and re-programmed the machines. The precinct manager said only 46 of the early morning voters chose to cast paper ballots. Every else chose to try to return before the polls close at 7 p.m. [WMTV, 3/1/16]

2016 GENERAL ELECTION ISSUES 

Glitch in Online System Prevents Georgians From Registering To Vote Online
Less than two weeks prior to the voter registration deadline, a failure of the online registration system resulted in error messages, prompting the Secretary of State to urge voters who tried to register online over a period of approximately five days to check their status. [WTVC, 10/5/2016]

After Lawsuit, Judge Orders Brian Kemp to Extend Voter Registration Deadline After a failed request to extend the voter registration deadline in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, The Georgia Coalition for People’s Agenda, Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and the nonprofit Third Sector corporation successfully sued the Secretary of State’s office to extend the voter registration deadline in Chatham County. Over 40 percent of Chatham County residents are black or Latino.
[CBS 46, 10/12/2016] [Lawyers’ Committee Press Release 10/13/2016]

Brian Kemp Approves of Donald Trump’s Call For Poll Watchers
2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump warned supporters that the election may be “rigged” in favor of his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and urged supporters to monitor the polls, stating “I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the eighth [but] go around and look and watch other polling places and make sure that it’s 100 percent fine.” Brian Kemp said a surge of Trump-inspired poll watchers would be welcome, so long as they undergo training after the state receives their names. [The Washington Post 8/13/16]

Brian Kemp’s Office Rejects Federal Assistance To Protect Against Hackers
Less than a year after Brain Kemp’s office released the personal data of an unprecedented 6 million Georgia voters, Kemp rejected an offer from the federal government to protect Georgia election systems from the threat of hacking. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution 8/29/16] [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/18/2015].

###

GAGOP to Trump – Let’s B BFFLS 4ever

GAGOP Trump Logo copy

 

Now that Donald Trump is the GOP’s presumptive nominee, Georgia Republicans are lining up to embrace a candidate who has proposed horrifying foreign policies—including the refusal to rule out the use of nuclear weapons on European territory. A candidate that labels Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals.” A candidate that has been endorsed by former KKK leader David Duke. And a candidate that has condoned and defended violence at his own campaign events.

 

The AJC reports that “Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, House Speaker David Ralston and Attorney General Sam Olens all sent word they would support the party’s nominee despite backing his rivals in the primary. So did Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who each stayed out of the race for president…”

 

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter issued the following statement on the shocking embrace of Donald Trump by Republican leaders.

 

“Donald Trump may be the most dangerous presidential candidate of our lifetime and the ruling class of the Georgia GOP seems perfectly fine with the impending chaos of a potential—yet improbable—Trump presidency. How on Earth could Johnny Isakson, David Perdue and the rest of that crew trust a volatile, divisive figure to lead the greatest armed forces in the World? How can they sleep at night with the looming prospect of Donald Trump being in possession of nuclear codes? It’s just beyond comprehension, and voters will hold Republicans accountable up and down the ballot in November. There is no doubt in my mind that Georgia will send another Democrat to the White House, with the temperament and judgement to keep our great country prosperous, safe and secure.”

 

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.

 

ICYMI: Albany Herald – House 151 snafu impacts voters

ICYMI: Albany Herald – House 151 snafu impacts voters

 

Albany Herald (4/9/2016) – CARLTON FLETCHER: House 151 snafu impacts voters

 

Williams lives on Shady Glen Lane in west-central Albany, on the cusp between House Districts 151 and 154. He said at a candidates’ forum Thursday night that he’s voted in HD 151 in each of the past three election cycles since redistricting based on the 2010 census was completed, which he said contradicts Greene’s contention that new district lines pushed him into HD 154. That district is represented by Winfred Dukes.

“I voted in (district) 151 in 2010, 2012 and 2014,” Williams told a large gathering at the Albany Civil Rights Institute. “Now, out of the blue, they’re saying I don’t live in 151, that I live in 154. All of a sudden — after I qualified to run against the Republican incumbent in 151 — they’re saying things have changed on one street in the city.”

 

…In response to a story about the HD 151 snafu that first appeared on the albanyherald.com website Thursday afternoon, Georgia NAACP President Francys Johnson said the secretary of state’s office relied on “faulty data” in dealing with the issue.

…“It took a candidate running for office to bring this issue to light — four years late — so how many other Georgians are voting in the wrong district?…

 

House Minority Whip Carolyn Hugley, a Columbus Democrat, said of the situation, “James Williams qualified in good faith for office in the district where he votes and lives, based on information provided to him by the secretary of state. He is a retired law enforcement officer with deep ties in several of the counties that comprise this district. Now he may be deprived of the right to run to represent his community, and the voters in House District 151 may be deprived of the right to select a candidate of their choice.

“The secretary of state is responsible for maintaining the voter files — blaming anyone else is just an admission he is not doing his job. This is an issue of basic fairness — he broke it and now he needs to fix it.”

The real victims in all of this are the voters in HD 151. Instead of researching where candidates who might represent them in Atlanta stand on key issues, they’re left to wonder if politicians miles away with agendas that have little to do with them are using their rights as pawns in a chess game that has no winners, only losers.

GA SoS Kemp Sets Sights on Quitman County…Again

Release:  Tuesday, April 5, 2016                                                                                          

 

GA Secretary of State Sets Sights on Quitman County…Again

 

 

Faulty state records could disqualify Democratic candidate in Georgia [Atlanta Journal-Constitution 4/5/16]

 

How White Georgia Republicans Are Derailing an African-American Candidate [New Republic 4/5/2016]

 

How White Georgia Republicans Are Derailing an African-American Candidate

Without the protections of the Voting Rights Act, local elections are a free-for-all.

BY SPENCER WOODMAN

April 5, 2016

Gerald Greene, a white Republican from Georgia, has represented the heavily rural, majority-black District 151 in the state House of Representatives for the past three decades. Because, according to Democrats, 151 is the state’s only minority-dominated district represented by a Republican, the Democratic party had been eyeing it as a promising pick-up for in the next election—a win, Democratic leaders say, that would signify a significant correction to years of the county’s black Democrats lacking legislative representation. In early March, the party finalized the candidacy of James Williams, a retired police officer from Albany, to run what Democratic strategists believed could be a winning challenge to Greene.

Yet on March 26, Williams went from campaigning against Greene to struggling to preserve his right to run in the election at all. That day, Williams says he received a call from the office of Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, informing him that Greene had challenged his residency—and thus his eligibility to run in the district. Greene’s petition against Williams’s candidacy had found a receptive audience among the state’s top Republicans, who decided that, on closer inspection, Williams did not in fact reside in District 151. Suddenly, the majority-black district appeared to have no Democratic candidate residing within its lines, and the Williams campaign against Greene entered a realm of deep uncertainty.

“It was astonishing that I was being challenged after having voted in District 151 for approximately 18 years,” Williams told me. “I never thought something like this could happen in Georgia.”

This development has infuriated state Democrats, who have previously accused Kemp of deploying tactics to suppress the state’s Democratic-leaning minority vote. Democrats contend that, on March 7, using Kemp’s own residency data, the party qualified Williams to run in district 151. Yet sometime around March 18th, the party alleges, the boundary lines of District 151 quietly changed in Kemp’s database, edging Williams just outside of the district. Kemp’s office today essentially confirmed this account. An emailed statement from Georgia Secretary of State spokeswoman Candice Broce said that during redistricting “Dougherty County elections officials incorrectly designated Mr. Williams as living in House District 151.” Williams, the statement noted, currently lives in House District 154. “When alerted to their error, county officials corrected their mistake.”

Not surprisingly, Georgia Democrats see this as something other than an innocent mistake. “In a district that is majority African-American and that overwhelmingly voted for President Obama in the last two elections, any voter should be highly suspect of what has occurred,” said Georgia House Whip Carolyn Hugley in an emailed statement. “The district lines changed when a white Republican incumbent was challenged by a highly-qualified black Democratic candidate.”

Greene rejects accusations of voter suppression and emphasizes that he has long had minority support. “I’m not even going to comment on that,” Greene said when I asked about accusations that his residency challenge might suppress the black vote. “I’ve represented a minority district for 33 years.”

The controversy over District 151 comes as the country prepares for its first presidential election since the Supreme Court’s 2013 dismantling of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required areas with histories of election discrimination to gain federal approval for all changes to election law. Alterations to state legislative lines would have fallen under the Act’s “preclearance” requirement. “Even small district shifts for a jurisdiction covered under the pre-clearance provision would have had to be pre-cleared before they could lawfully go into effect,” Myrna Pérez Director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at the Brennan Center, said in an email.

Since 2013, legislatures in many of the nine, mostly Southern states that had been covered under the Act have enacted new restrictions on voting.This includes high-profile voter ID laws in Texas and Alabama that advocates say will negatively impact hundreds of thousands of residents. In the months following the Supreme Court decision, cities and counties around Georgia moved to close polling places—in some cases dramatic scale-back proposals that would leave only a single voting location left—and the cities of Augustaand Macon took steps to move their elections from November to July, which the Department of Justice had previously blocked. (Augusta’s black voter turnout tends to be proportionally lower during the summer months.)

Opponents of new voting restrictions can only challenge new rules after they take effect, a far harder task than the previous model of simply swatting down unimplemented proposals. Ahead of this year’s election, voting rights advocates have been engaged in a whack-a-mole struggle to address the myriad controversial state, county, and municipal changes to election rules.

For the past ten days, Democratic leaders in Georgia have scrambled to convince Georgia officials to allow Williams to continue his candidacy. Yet their appeals have made little headway. Democrats say that on Friday they heard from the state’s attorney general that Kemp’s office would neither allow Williams to challenge Greene nor reopen qualifying to give Democrats an opportunity to find someone else.

Democrats contend that whatever the state’s rationale for disqualifying Williams, it was Kemp’s data that had placed him in the district for years, his data that allowed him to initially qualify to run, and his data caused the party to place resources behind Williams’s candidacy. Williams’s run, they say, represents a setback for Democrats that Republicans both created and from which they will benefit. “There has to be some point at which district lines are fixed so that you can conduct elections,” said Michael Jablonski, the General Counsel of the Georgia Democratic Party. “Anytime anyone checked the records, it said that Mr. Williams was in 151, but after march 14th, that got changed. Everyone on his street was all of a sudden in district 154.”

Greene told me that the residency challenge stemmed from rumors that Williams did not live in the district. Greene says he knows nothing about previous records that might show Williams residing in 151. When I asked Greene whether he had spoken to Willams before qualifying him, Greene responded: “I don’t know him. I don’t know anything about him.”

On April 13, Williams and Greene will drive three hours north from Albany to Atlanta, to attend a hearing on his residency with the Office of State Administrative Hearings, which handles such electoral challenges. Williams says that despite the turmoil surrounding his candidacy he has continued to campaign. He says that faltering medical services in the heavily rural parts of his district represent one of the animating forces behind his campaign, and that he would use a seat in the statehouse to push for extending Obama’s expansion of Medicaid to Georgia, which has been blocked by state Republicans.

“I’m going to keep working hard and campaigning,” Williams said. “I want to serve the people of this district.”

Spencer Woodman is a freelance writer based in New York.

 

 

Rep. Scott Holcomb on SoS Brian Kemp’s Failures and Ever-growing Cost to Taxpayers

Rep. Scott Holcomb on SoS Brian Kemp’s Failures and Ever-growing Cost to Taxpayers

 

SHOT – Rep. Holcomb – “There’s no doubt that the Secretary of State’s office wants to place the entirety of all of the blame on one person.”

 

CHASER – Rep. Holcomb – “It’s certainly not fiscally conservative to run your office so poorly, and to then willy-nilly spend millions of taxpayer dollars without any seeming repercussion for it.”

 

SECOND CHASER – Rep. Holcomb – “He (Kemp) needs to think long and hard about whether or not he’s done his job well enough to continue serving and whether or not he has the trust of the people.”

 

VIDEO HERE

 

 

SH Kemp SH

 

Data Breach Scandal Once Again Brings into Question Whether SoS Brian Kemp is Up to the Job

Release:  Thursday, November 19, 2015                                                                                         

 

Data Breach Scandal Once Again Brings into Question Whether Secretary of State Brian Kemp is Up to the Job

 

 

Atlanta, GA – Yesterday, several outlets reported that Secretary of State Brian Kemp may have compromised the privacy and economic security of more than six million Georgians by disclosing their social security numbers and other personal information.

 

But this isn’t the first time Kemp has proved incapable of handling large amounts of data. Other divisions of the Secretary of State have been in shambles for years.

 

The Professional Licensing Boards Division and Corporations Division—both of which are overseen by Brian Kemp—have both been plagued by reports of mismanagement.

 

Two years ago, concerns over the Nursing Board were raised, with the board president admitting that the “the board regularly takes upward of two years to process a complaint and issue a ruling.” At the time, it was reported that the North Carolina Board of Nursing regulated the same amount of nurses as Georgia, but processed complaints in “a fraction of the time”—taking an average of 45 days to resolve complaints. While a backlog of complaints in Georgia ballooned, nurses accused of malpractice—sometimes involving the death of a patient—were allowed to continue practicing medicine.

 

In early 2013, Brian Kemp was forced to extend annual corporation registrations due to SoS website issues.

 

Questions continue to pile up regarding Brian Kemp’s ability to effectively execute his duties as Secretary of State. While small business owners recovering from an economic recession have been hamstrung by his corporations division, patients put at risk because of backlogs, and licensed professionals—including electrical contractors, accountants, and cosmetologists—struggle with the licensing division’s renewal process, this latest debacle with Kemp’s elections division casts doubt on the Secretary of State’s ability to serve the people of Georgia.

 

“Either Brian Kemp’s office is a living disaster movie, or the procedures and safeguards in place are wholly ineffective. Kemp saying this data breach is a ‘clerical’ error is absolutely disrespectful to the millions of Georgians now fearing for their economic security—especially right before Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

 

“We have yet to hear what exactly Brian Kemp is doing to clean up this mess. Where is the hotline for consumers? Where is any kind of education from the SoS on how Georgians can protect their bank accounts? Where is the complete list of persons, organizations, or companies who received this personal information? Kemp needs to do right by Georgians and accept full responsibility for his egregious errors.” – Michael Smith, Democratic Party of Georgia Communications Director

 

 

 

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Background

 

WABE (11-18-2015) – 6 Million Ga. Voters’ Personal Information Released

 

AJC (11-18-2015) – Georgia: ‘Clerical error’ in data breach involving 6 million voters

 

WJCL (11-18-2015) – Lawsuit alleges Georgia’s Secretary of State released voters’ personal information

The GA Secretary of State May Have Just Compromised Your Security

Today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that two Georgia voters have filed a class action lawsuit alleging “a massive data breach by Secretary of State Brian Kemp involving the Social Security numbers and other private information of more than six million voters statewide.”

 

Equally as bad—the Republicans in charge of this state haven’t done a damn thing to reach out to consumers, admit their mistakes and help Georgians protect themselves.

 

 

Well if the Secretary of State Brian Kemp won’t do it, and Governor Nathan Deal won’t do it, we will.

 

 

Here’s what you should know:

 

 

This wasn’t hacking. No one broke into the system and stole your identifying information. Brian Kemp simply gave it away—more than 30 days ago.

 

 

A lawsuit was filed and in it there are screenshots (redacted) of the plaintiffs’ information that was distributed. We know that the information contained on the disc that never should have been distributed include:

 

 

Your name

Your address

Your date of birth

Your social security number

Your drivers’ license

Your gender

Your race/ethnicity

Your phone number

 

 

Here’s how you can protect yourself:

 

 

If you believe that this breach of security may cause you to become a victim of identity theft, visit the website of or call one of the three main credit bureaus:

 

 

 

 

Request that an “Initial Alert” be placed on your account. This service is free and it places an alert on your account for 90 days that prevents from a new card being opened up in your name.  Check out THIS website to get more information.

 

 

If you believe you are already a victim of identity theft, please follow the steps outlined HERE.

 

 

You can download an entire booklet on identity theft at the Federal Trade Commission’s website HERE.

 

 

How do we protect ourselves in the future:

 

 

Vote these fools out of office. Seriously. We need someone who can use, update and protect databases in this state. And then, we need a group of statewide elected officials who actually believe in protecting us, Georgians and consumers.

 

GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp Compromises Privacy and Security of Millions of Georgians

Release:  Wednesday, November 18, 2015                                                                                      

 

GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp Compromises Privacy and Security of Millions of Georgians

 

 

Atlanta, GA – Today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that two Georgia voters have filed a class action lawsuit alleging “a massive data breach by Secretary of State Brian Kemp involving the Social Security numbers and other private information of more than six million voters statewide.”

 

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter issued the following statement in response to this news.

 

“This wasn’t hacking. This is a government official—Brian Kemp—distributing the personal identification information of over six million Georgians. My privacy has been compromised, and yours probably has as well. It’s been over a month, and not a single voter has been notified—it took a lawsuit for Georgians to learn that their information has been compromised.

 

“All we’ve heard from Republican leaders is a deafening silence. Not a word from Brian Kemp, not a word from Gov. Nathan Deal or Lt. Governor Casey Cagle. Attorney General Sam Olens has been silent. Nathan Deal should have already ordered a full investigation by the Inspector General.

 

“Brian Kemp’s incompetence has now put all Georgians on Red Alert.”

 

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