Brian Kemp resigns as Georgian Secretary of State while Governor's race is still contested

ATLANTA – Republican Brian Kemp, who won the race in the race for the governor of Georgia, announced Thursday that he was resigning from his position as secretary of state, thus withdrawing from the process of determining whether he had actually been elected.

While some ballots have yet to be counted, his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, has only enough votes to force a second round. Ms. Abrams did not concede, and the Associated Press and other major news agencies said the race was still too close to be followed.

During the campaign, Kemp provoked more and more criticism for running an election in which he was also a candidate, but he rejected repeated Democrats' calls for him to resign in the weeks leading up to the day. of the poll.

Mr. Kemp made no mention of the electoral process on Thursday in his resignation letter to outgoing Republican Governor Nathan Deal, saying he was resigning because he wanted to "focus on the transition to my country." governor's administration ".

At his State Capitol morning press conference in Atlanta, Kemp said: "Given the current state of affairs, the certification process will engender public confidence, even if, frankly, it is done at home. county level. "

Robyn A. Crittenden, Commissioner of the Human Services Department of Georgia, has been appointed Acting Secretary of State. She will oversee the certification of election results in Georgia. Mrs Crittenden takes up her duties at an unstable time in Georgia. Ms. Abrams' campaign still raises bitter questions about the integrity of elections.

Crittenden will also supervise the spills in at least two other state-wide races, one for secretary of state and one for governor if Abrams' campaign succeeds in forcing one.

While prominent Republicans congratulated Kemp on Thursday, the Democrats did little to disguise their dislike of his course of action.

"Press releases do not declare victory," said Lauren Groh-Wargo, campaign manager of Ms. Abrams.

While Kemp's resignation took effect on Thursday at 11:59, his office said he had won 50.3 percent of the vote and held about 63,000 more votes than Ms. Abrams. To win the governorship, Mr. Kemp must have an absolute majority.

But the Abrams campaign believes that there is still a way to go for the second round of unfunded and provisional ballots.

"All the votes were not counted," said John Chandler, a lawyer for the Abrams campaign, at a news conference at noon in Atlanta. "How can we claim a victory when there are enough votes that have not been counted and that could provoke a second round here? We believe that everyone is entitled to have their vote counted. "

The Abrams campaign announced plans to file a lawsuit Thursday against a county in southwestern Georgia, where mail ballots were delayed by an injunction and, later, by the government. hurricane Michael. The prosecution is requesting an extension of time for the ballots to arrive and be counted.

The campaign did not immediately announce another dispute, stating that she was considering her options.

Kemp's office announced on Wednesday that there remained less than 25,000 ballots not yet tabulated all over the country, most of them being provisional. It would almost certainly be too little to force a flow, even if they were all validated and projected massively for Mrs. Abrams.

Mrs Groh-Wargo dismissed these figures on Thursday. "We do not think any of these figures are credible," she said.

The Abrams campaign asked state officials to publish much more data, including disaggregated data by county, to support their findings, and indicated that valid ballots were still being sent. The campaign also urges voters who vote in the provisional ballot because of identity issues to travel quickly to county polling stations and to resolve the issue so that their votes can be counted.

Kemp's resignation as Secretary of State appears to have resulted in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the nonprofit Protect Democracy calling for Mr. Kemp's challenge. A hearing in this case was scheduled for Thursday.

While Mr. Kemp and Mr. Deal spoke in front of the Capitol, protesters stood in front of the governor's office with placards demanding that every vote be counted correctly. A detachment of state soldiers stood guard.

Mr. Kemp's two roles as a player and referee in the governor's race have angered the Democrats since he won the Republican nomination. They often accused him of using his office to prosecute a crackdown on voters, through purges of voters lists and other contested actions.

Jimmy Carter, Governor of Georgia before being elected to the White House, warned Mr. Kemp in a letter that his refusal to withdraw before the elections was against the most fundamental principle of democratic elections: the management of the electoral process. by an independent and impartial electoral authority. "

On the weekend before polling day, Mr. Kemp took a step that attracted the biggest criticism of all. In a vague statement that provided no evidence, Kemp's office said he had opened an investigation into the Democratic Party of Georgia after "an unsuccessful attempt to hack the voter registration system of the State".

The Democrats denied any wrongdoing and condemned the investigation – and in particular the public announcement of it two days before the elections – as a last minute political attack. But Mr. Kemp again rejected calls for resignation at that time.

On Thursday morning, in the majestic ceremonial office long used by state governors, he said he would now spend his time preparing to move in.