Audra Melton for the New York Times
This weekend, the current Secretary of State of Georgia, Brian Kemp, who is running as the Republican candidate for State Governor in the 2018 midterm elections, launched an investigation into the Democratic party in Georgia on allegations of a failed hacking attempt on the state's voter registration system. In prior weeks, critics of Kemp have brought up a previous controversy surrounding accusations against him for minority voter suppression due to Georgia policy's strict refusal to process any registration applications that did not exactly match up with preexisting state data, causing thousands of applications to be rejected with minorities far more likely to be among them (The Economist). This process is overseen by Kemp himself as Secretary of State who after agreed to reform the state's system of registration.
Many believe that Kemp's current investigation into the failed hacking of the aforementioned registration system is a political stunt with the intention to damage his Democratic opponent's campaign in its final days. Seeing as the accusations currently have no apparent evidence and that Kemp is spearheading the investigation into the party of his current opponent, should Georgia voters be wary when making final election decisions?
As seen in elections throughout history, when campaigns such as this one are running so close, accusations have had the power to sway voters from one candidate or party to another. Many Georgia Democrats say the investigation is an abuse of Kemp's power as acting elections official for the state. In a state that has historically struggled with voting rights issues, registration has become a central topic in the election. It will be interesting to see both how Kemp's investigation turns out and how it will effect votes in this week's election.
Sources:
https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2018/10/22/georgia-and-the-right-to-vote
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/us/politics/georgia-elections-kemp-voters-hack.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/04/brian-kemps-office-orders-hacking-probe-georgia-democrats-eve-election-hes-competing/?utm_term=.6736112ce12f
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/11/04/brian-kemp-thinks-georgians-are-stupid/
2 comments:
This is a case where in all likelihood an investigation is being used as a political tool. An incumbent running for re-election calling an investigation to unfounded claims against the opposition days after he himself was found to be engaging in voter suppression. The timing of all this before election day has been highly, highly suspicious, but its important to remember, even if one believes these recent accusations to be relevant, that Kemp has actually been proven to oversee a system of voter suppression.
Beyond blatant voter suppression -- discounting voters because of a small thing like slightly different signatures, largely targeting African-American -- Kemp has done everything in his power to disadvantage Stacey Abrams. An investigation just found that over 1500 FULLY FUNCTIONING voting machines were locked away, which caused extremely long lines -- and many working parents, who needed to get home to their children, did not vote as a result. It´s ridiculous that Kemp is allowed to keep his position, which clearly corrupts the democratic process, especially since he has done this in previous races.
I respect Stacey Abrams' refusal to concede. Especially in such an intense and close race, we should ensure that the election is free of corruption.
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