Brian Kemp Leaked Audio about Georgia raises questions about voting – Rolling Stone

Brian Kemp, Secretary of State of Georgia and Republican Candidate for the Governor of Georgia, said at an election event that the electoral turnout of his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams "continues to worry us especially if everyone uses and exercises their right to vote, "according to the newspaper. audio obtained by Rolling stone.

A participant at Georgia Professionals for Kemp reported 21 minutes and 12 seconds of last night's Blind Pig Parlor Bar, near Atlanta's Buckhead district. As proof of their presence, the source shared with Rolling stone a receipt of their donation giving access to the gathering.

Shortly after the start of Kemp's remarks, the candidate worried about early voting and "tens of millions of dollars [the Abrams camp] mobilize to get the vote to their base. "

Kemp then asserted that much of this Abrams effort was focused on requests for mail ballots. "They just have an unprecedented number," he said, "which continues to worry us, especially if everyone uses and exercises their right to vote – which they absolutely can – and sends these ballots, participation rate to compensate for this. "

On Tuesday morning, a member of the Kemp campaign confirmed that the event had occurred, but the campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comments regarding specific remarks. Monday night, a Facebook page of the event was removed from public view. Candice Broce, press secretary of the Georgian State Secretary, said Rolling stone that she does not respond to inquiries relating to the campaign because she represents the office.

It is quite typical that a political candidate, confident in his campaign, laments the efforts of his opponent to increase the turnout. Kemp's position as Georgian Secretary of State is blurring his claims. Although it is not uncommon for a person occupying such a position to be found on a ballot during an election, she oversees – she must be a candidate for re-election – after all, the highest election official from the state speaks of "anxiety" caused by advance votes and postal votes raise further questions about a conflict of interest.

Kemp's recent decision to suspend more than 53,000 applications70% of which were filed by black residents for violating "exact match" The standard of audit drew attention to its penchant for restrictive electoral laws and the purging of voters lists. American Public Media reported last week that Kemp purged about 107,000 voters last year simply because they did not vote in previous elections. He is also being prosecuted for leaving more than 6 million Georgian voting records open to piracy.

Kemp, a convinced supporter of Trump who echoed the president's speech regarding Russia's interference in the elections, was also only secretary of state of the country to refuse help from Homeland Security before the election of 2016.

Another reason why Kemp's "voting right" line is potentially alarming is that he is facing another lawsuit after reports an abnormal number of postal ballots – 595, more than a third of the state total and 300 of them belong to black and Asian American voters – were rejected in the state's most racially diverse county, Gwinnett. Georgia Muslim Electoral Project and US-Asian Justice Progress – Atlanta lawsuit filed last Monday to ask the rejected voters three days after the election to solve the problem so that their vote counts.

All of these reports led to accusations that Kemp suppresses votes; in his Friday remarks, he alleged that Abrams was doing the same. Urging participants to speak to people to help him get help, Mr. Kemp said, "If they send an email telling them," I'm a conservative Republican woman and I'm not sure. I have received 15 senders who say how bad Brian Kemp is ", is someone we need to talk to. [Be]because they do it for a reason. They do it to suppress your vote. "

Abigail Collazo, director of strategic communications for the Abrams campaign, said: "Brian Kemp is just trying to hide the shameful fact that his strategy is to win by the removal of voters. The idea that, as Secretary of State, he is "concerned" that hard-working Georgians are exercising their right to vote is scandalous and scandalous ".

Collazo echoed previous calls from his campaign for Kemp to resign.

"Brian Kemp should resign immediately so that Georgians can be sure that the elections will be fair and competent," she said.