KLAMATH FALLS, OR— Former President Jimmy Carter To Secretary of State Brian Kemp:
Former President Jimmy Carter has called on Georgia's Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp to resign from his position as secretary of state amid concerns of voter suppression ahead of next week's election.
Carter wrote in a letter to Kemp obtained by The Associated Press that confidence in the election has been threatened because Kemp is "now overseeing the election in which you are a candidate."
As secretary of state, Kemp leads the office that oversees Georgia elections.
"This runs counter to the most fundamental principle of democratic elections — that the electoral process be managed by an independent and impartial election authority," Carter wrote. "Other secretaries of state have stepped down while running for election within their jurisdiction, to ensure that officials without a direct stake in the process can take charge and eliminate concerns about a conflict of interest."
The former Democratic president suggested that Kemp give the responsibility of overseeing the election to a third party, saying that it would show Kemp recognizes "the importance of this key democratic principle."
"This would not address every concern, but it would be a sign that you recognize the importance of this key democratic principle and want to ensure the confidence of our citizens in the outcome," Carter wrote.
Carter's call for Kemp to resign came amid reports of voter suppression and allegations that voting machines have been switching votes for Democrat Stacey Abrams to votes for Kemp.
Kemp has thus far dismissed Democratic demands that he step aside as Georgia's chief elections officer. But Carter attempted to approach the matter less as a partisan who has endorsed Abrams and more as the former president who's spent the decades since he left the Oval Office monitoring elections around the world.
"One of the key requirements for a fair and trusted process is that there be a nonbiased supervision of the electoral process," Carter wrote, adding that stepping aside "would be a sign that you recognize the importance of this key democratic principle and want to ensure the confidence of our citizens in the outcome."
Disclosure of Carter's letter comes with Kemp under scrutiny from multiple fronts, chief among them 53,000 voter registrations being held up by Kemp's office. Under the state's strict election laws, mail-in registrations must match exactly a voter's records on file with the Social Security Administration or Georgia's driver's license agency.
Kemp insists he's fairly applying Georgia law and that those would-be voters can cast ballots if they present acceptable identification — like any other Georgia voter — that clears up any questions. But Abrams and voting rights advocates have assailed the move — and sued — as part of a pattern Democrats say is intended to make it harder for minorities and other Democratic constituencies to vote.
Election expert Greg Palast: Thanks to GOP voter suppression, “Democrats may have effectively lost”. Investigative reporter Greg Palast on Brian Kemp’s “postcard trick” and other Republican vote-suppression tactics.
There are elements of about the current Georgia governor's race that may fundamentally undermine faith in democracy. If Republican candidate Brian Kemp, the current secretary of state, wins the election, his victory is likely to appear illegitimate. Impartial observers will never be able to tell whether he would have won had every eligible voter in the state been able to cast a ballot. If he loses, there is little question that the victory of Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams will be viewed as an existential threat to the same forces that tried to rig things against her in the first place.
The fact that millions of voters lost their registrations without notice that they’d been purged means that Democrats may have effectively lost any chance of winning key elections before a single vote is cast.
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