Swafford: Disagree
I will establish an open and transparent government. This means keeping Georgians informed. I will let people know what bills are being written and who is writing them. If any changes are being made to the bills, who made them? Most importantly, if any individuals or businesses receive perks from a bill, I want people to know who they are and what the benefits constitute of. That way, voters can be more informed as to whom they'd like to reelect. I'm here to serve the people, not my party or special interest groups. I will say no to deception and corruption!
Secretary Kemp also implemented his Stop Voter Fraud website and Voter Fraud Hotline allowing citizens to report questionable election activities online or by phone. Additionally, Kemp's Investigations Division increased its partnerships with state and local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute voter fraud.
Under Secretary Kemp's leadership, Georgia's elections are secure, accessible and fair. Kemp continues his efforts every day to stop voter fraud and make it as easy as possible for all citizens to participate in the democratic process.
The two have long been on opposite sides of the debate over elections issues, with Kemp advocating for stricter voter ID laws to prevent what he called the threat of illegal voters casting ballots and Abrams contending those new rules could disenfranchise minorities, the disabled and the elderly.
But they clashed the sharpest during the 2014 after Abrams new voter registration group, the New Georgia Project, which said it submitted 86,000 voter registration forms during the 2014 cycle, but Kemp's office argued that tens of thousands of applications were either missing or had not been properly submitted.
Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 32-22-0 on Jan. 24, vote #599; Sen. Kemp voted YES; passed House 111-60-6 on Jan. 25, vote #564; signed by Gov. Perdue Jan. 26.
The injunction would seek to reopen voter registration in Georgia to ensure that 53,000 registrants on hold in Kemp's office--and possibly others affected by an outage of the Georgia Department of Driver Services and the state's voter registration website--would be allowed to register for the upcoming election. The last day to register to vote was Tuesday.
The strict policies enforced by Kemp's office for voter registration and verification have been under scrutiny in his gubernatorial campaign. Under Kemp's verification policies, voter application information must perfectly match information on file. If they don't match precisely, officials can put the application on hold.
An analysis conducted by The Associated Press found that almost 70% of the registrants currently on hold are black. Georgia's population is 32% black. [Kemp's gubernatorial opponent Stacey] Abrams needs strong African-American turnout in the state to win the governor's race. Allies of Abrams argue that Kemp is deliberately trying to purge voter rolls to his advantage.
Kemp's office said in a statement in July, "Despite any claim to the contrary, it has never been easier to register to vote in Georgia and actively engage in the electoral process. The numbers do not lie."
STACY ABRAMS: Maintaining clean voter rolls is absolutely appropriate, but the vigor with which he did so--a perfect example is the 92-year-old civil rights activist who's lived in the West End of Atlanta for more than 40 years, has voted in every single election since 1968, and was removed from the polls. She went to vote, and had to take more than 2 hours to get a provisional ballot. This is someone who has never failed to vote. The problem we have is that it's death by 1,000 cuts. It's not sufficient to simply purge voters from the rolls for inactivity. He removed voters who were eligible. And the larger issue is this. Trust in our democracy relies on believing that there are good actors who are making this happen. And he was a horrible actor who benefited from his perfidy.
Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 32-22-0 on Jan. 24, vote #599; Sen. Cagle voted YES; passed House 111-60-6 on Jan. 25, vote #564; signed by Gov. Perdue Jan. 26.
Perdue: The Founders saw firsthand that danger of entrusting too much authority in any one individual. They recognized that absolute power corrupts. Therefore, they drafted a Constitution that delineated specific duties and powers between the three branches of government so that there was a check and balance system preventing one person or branch from amassing absolute power.
Perdue: Strongly Disagree
The Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger responded: "Senators Loeffler and Perdue called for my resignation. That is not going to happen. From an election administration perspective, the election was a resounding success. Almost 5 million Georgians cast a vote in this election--that is a record turnout. The process of reporting results followed the law. Where there have been allegations of illegal voting, my office has dispatched investigators."
Perdue: No position found. On chaotic GA primary, "more than 150 counties didn't have any problem. In a few we did. This idea of voter suppression is a lie right out of the pit of hell."
Ossoff: No. Criticizes "major purges" of voter rolls and "mass disenfranchisement." Need a new Voting Rights Act.
"That transparency that Obama was talking about?" Grayson adds. "We didn't get that." Cutting spending, preserving Second amendment rights, and encouraging devolution in the education system hover at the top of Grayson's policy to-do list, which focuses on restoring individual freedoms across the board. "I will not compromise on the liberties and freedoms of the American people. Period," he says. "That's not debatable. It's not optional. It's a job requirement."
A: I do believe there is room for reform and increased transparency inside the election process, especially on the national level.
Doug Collins: Likely yes. Opposes voting rights bill, which "would essentially federalize state and local election laws;" that is "unconstitutional."
Kelly Loeffler: Unclear. Introduced bill to raise penalties for voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting.
Raphael Warnock: No. Supports restoring oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act, which made voting restrictions harder to enact.
America's confidence in the federal government has eroded to the point that it is nearly non-existent. Restoring the nation to a true citizen-legislature where members of all facets of our communities represent their neighbors for a short time then return home to live under the laws they wrote is absolutely necessary to moving our country forward.
Our founders never envisioned a permanent political class, but we have one and it insulates lawmakers from the consequences of their decisions in Washington. Voters don't believe that their representatives 'get it,' and I fear that the professional politicians have even forgotten what 'it' is.
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support limiting the number of terms for Georgia state senators and representatives?
A: No.
Q: Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates? Individual?
A: Yes.
Q: PAC?
A: Yes.
Q: Corporate?
A: Yes.
Q: Political Parties?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
A: No.
Q: Should Georgia participate in the federal REAL ID program?
A: Yes.
A: I would rather see a paper trail. I have personally monitored elections in other countries. One of the most important aspect and credibility of those elections is a verifiable paper trail that people can look at and see that their votes have been counted. In order to achieve it, we have to figure out how much it costs. We have to do all the things that are required to make a real policy out of it. As a concept, I wish we had a paper trail. I would certainly call for it. I think it's important for credibility of that system. People need to know that their votes are counted.
Campaign finance reform: Our broken campaign finance system rewards elected leaders to put the interests and campaign contributions of the special interests and their lobbyists ahead of the people and good governance. Jim supports repealing the disastrous Citizens United decision through a constitutional amendment that bans Super PACs and also takes large anonymous donations out of our electoral system. Jim believes it's time to elect new leaders that will hold Washington accountable and that is why he's running for U.S. Senate.
Ossoff: Yes. "We must end Citizens United and get secret, dark money out of politics."
Ossoff: No. Criticizes "major purges" of voter rolls and "mass disenfranchisement." Need a new Voting Rights Act.
Perdue: No position found. On chaotic GA primary, "more than 150 counties didn't have any problem. In a few we did. This idea of voter suppression is a lie right out of the pit of hell."
Ossoff: I'm open to discussing any proposed changes to Senate rules. But what are the implications when the shoe is on the other foot? It's not just a yes-or-no question. But I rule nothing out and look forward to the debate. And just to be clear: I look forward to legislating on behalf of Georgia, not just getting mired in gridlock.
The legislation would create the Georgia Major Airport Authority, a board appointed by state officials to oversee operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Sen. Jones said state control is needed because of corruption issues in the procurement process. Critics say those issues involved past administrations and that Bottoms has taken steps to reform the process.
Kelly Loeffler: Unclear. Introduced bill to raise penalties for voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting.
Raphael Warnock: No. Supports restoring oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act, which made voting restrictions harder to enact.
Loeffler: It's very clear that there were issues in this election. There are 250 investigations open, including an investigation into one of my opponent's organizations for voter fraud. And we have to make sure that Georgians trust this process because of what's at stake in this election. The promise that Chuck Schumer made was to fundamentally change America and I'm making sure that we don't go down the road of socialism.
Loeffler: As someone who has been the subject of threats of violence, I absolutely denounce it. The future of our country hangs on this state having free, fair, trusted elections. We've got to get to the bottom of these investigations that have started too late. I'm going to fight to make sure that we hold officials accountable for carrying out free, fair, trusted elections that are accurate.
Loeffler: President Trump has every right to use every legal recourse available. In our own state, we've seen time and again that we have investigations that need to be completed. We've run two audits and discovered thousands of ballots across several counties here in Georgia that were not counted. I've called for a signature audit. We need to hold folks accountable involved in these investigations to move more quickly.
When you look back at the [2020 presidential] election, there is so much fog around the issue. It's hard to say if Biden really received about 81 million votes. I don't think anyone really knows, but you had people from both sides who lacked confidence. During my work in national security, one of our metrics for success for spreading democracy overseas is whether there's confidence in the election system. That's why the leaders here have adopted the changes.
A: There's blame on both asides of the equation for the failure of getting things done in Washington.
Q. So are you equally happy to run against Democratic dysfunction as you are Republican dysfunction?
A: I'm running against dysfunction in Washington and I'm running against the polarization and I'm running for a spirit of focus on common ground and problem solving, which I think would be helped by sending more people to Washington with those commitments also with a lens that's outside of Washington and brings a new perspective.
A: I'm not saying that I don't want people in Congress to not continue to influence things for the public good. I think what I'm pointing out is that we should not have congressmen and women use the privilege that they have through their service and apply it parochial or special interests.
Nunn's campaign fired back. "These ads are exactly the type of dishonest attacks Georgians have come to expect from our broken political system," said a Nunn spokesman. "There's no better contrast to these attacks from deep-pocketed special interests than Michelle's own story of working with businesses, charities and religious organizations to make change."
The ad has a small $150,000 buy behind it, according to a source tracking the buy.
So far, I believe we have done that well. We have made communities safer, improved educational opportunities, provided for infrastructure improvements, driven workforce development, generated a better business environment and created jobs.
Broun: Strongly Disagree
Raphael Warnock: No. Supports restoring oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act, which made voting restrictions harder to enact.
Kelly Loeffler: Unclear. Introduced bill to raise penalties for voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting.
Warnock: Voter suppression is something that happens all across our country. It's happened here in the state of Georgia, but Stacey Abrams did not refuse to acknowledge the fact that her opponent was the governor. Here we are several weeks after the election and Kelly Loeffler continues to cast doubt on an American democratic election. It's time to put this behind us and get focused on the concerns of ordinary people.
Allen: The Founders secured our rights by establishing three branches of government, as the government itself is an entity from which the citizens need protecting. In the vein of checking government power, I want to enact term limits on those serving so that we can stop sending politicians that think they are above the law to Congress and replace them with ordinary people who have served their communities and want to go to Washington to secure every citizen's natural rights and make a difference.
Allen: Strongly Agree
Q: People should be able to vote without photo identification?
Allen: Disagree
A: No. If you have money, give it to your neighbors and local businesses. I have contended for this approach in 2020 because it's the right thing to do, and it ensures I will never be bought for a vote.
It would be easy to sit back and point fingers at Washington. But we must reject the course forward that promises the next generation little more than an expensive bill--crushing entitlements and unfunded mandates.
Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 32-22-0 on Jan. 24, vote #599; passed House 111-60-6 on Jan. 25, vote #564; signed by Gov. Perdue Jan. 26.
Kemp advocated for stricter voter ID laws to prevent what he called the threat of illegal voters casting ballots and Abrams contending those new rules could disenfranchise minorities, the disabled and the elderly.
But they clashed the sharpest during the 2014 after Abrams new voter registration group, the New Georgia Project, announced ambitious goals to register 800,000 minority voters within a decade. The group said it submitted 86,000 voter registration forms during the 2014 cycle, but Kemp's office argued that tens of thousands of applications had not been properly submitted. The voter group supported a coalition that sued Kemp's office again in 2016 over the cancellation of nearly 35,000 registration applications from 2013 to 2016 due to mismatched information.
MY VOTE: NO. HB 268 would negatively impact reforms recently agreed to by the Secretary of State in the federal settlement of the "exact match" federal voting rights lawsuit and would likely lead to further expensive and time-consuming litigation. Furthermore, it likely violates the First Amendment, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the National Voter Registration Act.
MY VOTE: NO. Voters of color are facing increased inconvenience by repeated shifts in their districts, in order to accommodate diminished GOP voting strength. With each redrawing of the lines, voters of color are shifted to new legislators and divided from neighbors.
[VIDEO CLIP] ABRAMS: This is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper.[END VIDEO]
Q: Abrams is now planning to launch a federal lawsuit against the state for what she called gross mismanagement of the election. Leader Abrams joins us. You said that "Democracy failed in Georgia," referring to, as you called it, incompetence and mismanagement. But do you think that there was deliberate interference in the election?
ABRAMS: Yes. And I believe it began eight years ago with the systematic disenfranchisement of more than a million voters. It continued with the underfunding and disinvestment in polling places, in training, and in the management of the county delivery of services. And I think it had its pinnacle in this race. There has been a dramatic discrepancy in the way absentee ballots are both allocated & counted across the 159 counties.
STACY ABRAMS: Maintaining clean voter rolls is absolutely appropriate, but the vigor with which he did so--a perfect example is the 92-year-old civil rights activist who's lived in the West End of Atlanta for more than 40 years, has voted in every single election since 1968, and was removed from the polls. She went to vote, and had to take more than 2 hours to get a provisional ballot. This is someone who has never failed to vote. The problem we have is that it's death by 1,000 cuts. It's not sufficient to simply purge voters from the rolls for inactivity. He removed voters who were eligible. And the larger issue is this. Trust in our democracy relies on believing that there are good actors who are making this happen. And he was a horrible actor who benefited from his perfidy.
STACEY ABRAMS: Absolutely. I was part of a coalition that sued him in 2016 to force him to stop using this process. And a federal judge agreed with us, said that he had unlawfully canceled more than 33,000 registrations. And they forced him to restore those registrations. In response, the Republicans passed a law in the 2017 legislative session to allow him to do it again. And so the challenge is twofold. One is that we know this is a flawed system that has a disproportionate effect on people of color. But it also has the ability to erode trust in our system.
Since her first governor run in 2018, Abrams has since escalated her organizing and mobilizing efforts with Fair Fight, the group she founded in the aftermath of that election, and offered a strong closing pitch to voters to "make a plan to vote early" leading up to Nov. 3.
"One of the ways we were able to flip Georgia was because I have been working on it for ten years," Abrams went on. "I know the work we did across this country through Fair Fight 2020 made certain we had enough states that flipped back that we could work together to make certain Joe Biden became president, and now I'm focused on getting the last piece across the finish line, and that is the U.S. Senate race on January 5th in Georgia."
A: Yes. Our education system is outdated and doesn't meet the needs of all students. There are too many variations in how the delivery of education is made. In order for parents, students and potential employers to better understand the learning capacity of the students, there must be some level of comparison which can transform assessment innovation programs. It can also save money spent on redundant services and those which are not effective. Funding for schools should not be dependent upon local tax bases. More support can be given to skill trade certification for every high school graduate.
Legislative Outcome:Passed House 102-48-30 on Mar/24/17; State Rep. Vernon Jones voted YES
Speaker Stacey Abrams opinion in support of voting NO: Voters of color are facing increased inconvenience by repeated shifts in their districts, in order to accommodate diminished GOP voting strength. With each redrawing of the lines, voters of color are shifted to new legislators and divided from neighbors.
Legislative Outcome: Passed House 108-59-13 on Mar/3/17; State Rep. Vernon Jones voted NO
"I will always acknowledge outcomes to elections but will never deny access to every voter," she said. Abrams assured the audience that she eventually recognized that Kemp won the election in 2018, after she first said it was "rigged."
"In 2018, I began my speech on Nov. 16 acknowledging that Gov. Kemp had won the election. I then proceeded to lay out in grave detail the challenges faced by voters under his leadership as secretary of state--80,000 complaints, and it took four years of federal investigation in a lawsuit," she said. "We didn't win every single claim, but we forced massive changes to the election laws." Earlier this month, an Obama-appointed federal judge dismissed major contentions in Abrams's legal case that her defeat to Kemp in 2018 was illegitimate.
Kemp retorted that Abrams joined the Democratic bandwagon that claimed S.B. 202, the election-integrity law passed in
Oliver is the third name on the ballot in the marquee matchup between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. In most states, that make would Oliver an afterthought. But Georgia law requires an outright majority to win statewide office. With polls suggesting a tight contest between Warnock and Walker, it may not take a considerable share of the vote for Oliver to force a runoff.
Coming out of an election where so many Georgians rejected the two-party system, Oliver says there might be momentum for additional changes. "Runoffs are better than plurality voting. Ranked-choice voting is better than runoffs," he says. "That's something that I'm going to be working on."
Legislative Outcome:Passed House 102-48-30 on Mar/24/17; Brad Raffensperger voted YES; passed Senate 35-17-3 on Mar/30/17; signed by Governor Nathan Deal on May/9/17.
Legislative Outcome:Passed House 102-48-30 on Mar/24/17; Geoff Duncan voted YES; passed Senate 35-17-3 on Mar/30/17; signed by Governor Nathan Deal on May/9/17.
Speaker Stacey Abrams opinion in support of voting NO: Voters of color are facing increased inconvenience by repeated shifts in their districts, in order to accommodate diminished GOP voting strength. With each redrawing of the lines, voters of color are shifted to new legislators and divided from neighbors.
Legislative Outcome: Passed House 108-59-13 on Mar/3/17; Geoff Duncan voted YES.
BOTTOMS: I am deeply concerned about Donald Trump's rhetoric around our elections. I have proposed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act for Georgia that will expand access to the right to vote. It will make election day a state holiday. It will expand the number of days and the hours that people can vote including weekends and evenings. And also expand the ID that can be used to register to vote. Such as a student campus id. A verified student campus id. The right to vote is sacred and we know that in our democracy, it can be taken away in an instant. And we're watching that attempt in real time.
JACKSON: I don't expect [voting problems in] this election. We never should give up on making sure that our software is safe and that it is secure and that we have the safest. People need to feel comfortable that the elections are fair. And I will always make sure that we continue to improve.
BOTTOMS: I am deeply concerned about Donald Trump's rhetoric around our elections. I have proposed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act for Georgia that will expand access to the right to vote. It will make election day a state holiday. It will expand the number of days and the hours that people can vote including weekends and evenings.
JACKSON: I believe Governor Kemp did a great job in 2021 to pass a bill that was easy to vote and hard to cheat. Our last two elections have been good. from that standpoint. We haven't had any problems. I don't expect one this election. We never should give up on making sure that our software is safe and that it is secure and that we have the safest. People need to feel comfortable that the elections are fair. And I will always make sure that we continue to improve.
Jon Ossoff: Georgia has voter ID, and that's good. Mike Collins and Donald Trump, they're still obsessed with overturning the 2020 election. Mike Collins still believes the 2020 election was stolen. Mike Collins has supported Donald Trump's effort to overturn the election, and he wants to give your tax dollars to the violent thugs and criminals who sacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Mike Collins is attacking your voting rights.
Collins: Voters need confidence. Jon Ossoff has voted against the SAVE Act numerous times. Georgia, you're right, has a voter ID law, and we've seen historic people, amounts of people that have voted since that has been in place, but we need that across the country.
Jon Ossoff: Georgia has voter ID, and that's good. Mike Collins and Donald Trump, they're still obsessed with overturning the 2020 election. Mike Collins still believes the 2020 election was stolen. Mike Collins has supported Donald Trump's effort to overturn the election. Mike Collins is attacking your voting rights.
Collins: Voters need confidence. They need to know, y'all, we live in the best country in the world, and there's no reason that we shouldn't have the most secure elections in the world. Jon Ossoff has voted against the SAVE Act numerous times. Georgia, you're right, has a voter ID law, and we've seen historic people, amounts of people that have voted since that has been in place, but we need that across the country. There's no reason that you shouldn't have to show an ID to go in and vote.
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