ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, is attacking his primary opponent Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over the , this time wielding his legislative powers.
State senators on Thursday slammed Raffensperger for not complying with a U.S. Department of Justice request for detailed voter data that includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver鈥檚 license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. Raffensperger has said that would violate state law and infringe on Georgians鈥� privacy. He did not attend the meeting, citing active litigation. Georgia is among the Justice Department has sued to get that information.
But Jones emphasized an incorrect claim that there were 315,000 wrongly certified Fulton County ballots from 2020 when he demanded Raffensperger appear at the Senate Ethics Committee meeting. That appeared to be an attempt to galvanize Jones’ right-wing supporters. Jones is a close ally of President Donald Trump, who has the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Spotlighting the 2020 election baffled some Republicans who say most Georgians have moved on.
Ricky Hess, chair of north Georgia鈥檚 Paulding County Republicans, said in a text that voters care about election transparency but are 鈥渞eady to move on from relitigating 2020鈥� and are more worried about affordability, education and public safety.
鈥淐andidates who make 2020 the centerpiece risk sounding stuck,鈥� Hess wrote. 鈥淐andidates who talk about practical steps that build confidence and then focus on today鈥檚 issues will connect with more people.鈥�
In a January 2021 phone call, the president pressured Raffensperger to help to overturn Democrat Joe Biden鈥檚 win in the state鈥檚 2020 presidential election.
Jones already has Trump鈥檚 endorsement and the support of election skeptics, said Jason Shepherd, a Republican in Georgia who resigned from party office over disagreements with Trump supporters. It鈥檚 the rest of the voters he needs to win over, and Shepherd said most trust that Georgia鈥檚 elections are secure.
Fulton County back in the spotlight
Jones was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who in 2020 even though Biden had won the state. He also backed a call for a to declare Trump the winner. Raffensperger and Attorney General , Jones鈥� top rivals for the Republican nomination, spurned Trump鈥檚 efforts. Raffensperger and Carr will appeal to more moderate Republicans, but Raffensperger is expected to pull ahead of Carr.
Outcry over the false claim that the Fulton County ballots were wrongly certified went viral in right-wing media last year. In announcing the Ethics Committee meeting, Jones said Fulton County admitted that 鈥�315,000 ballots were not properly signed by poll workers.” Ballots in Georgia are never signed. It was the tabulator tapes from scanners used to count votes during early in-person voting for the 2020 general election that poll workers failed to sign, Ann Brumbaugh, an attorney for the county, acknowledged during a State Election Board meeting last month.
She added the county has new leadership overseeing elections and implemented new training and procedures for checking tabulator tapes.
Raffensperger called what happened a 鈥渃lerical error.鈥� The Brennan Center鈥檚 director of elections and security Gowri Ramachandran agreed with that assessment. Signing tabulation tapes is not how votes get counted, and the error doesn鈥檛 invalidate election results, she said.
鈥淭here is nothing in the election code overturning it for not following a procedural rule, especially invalidating every single early vote cast in Georgia鈥檚 largest county,鈥� said a spokesperson for Raffensperger.
Jones said in the announcement that Raffensperger鈥檚 office needs oversight.
鈥淚 will not allow the Secretary and his allies in the press to let him escape accountability by downplaying this utter failure as a mere 鈥榗lerical error,鈥欌�� Jones said.
During his campaign, Raffensperger has said Georgia鈥檚 elections are nationally recognized as secure. In a letter to the Ethics Committee’s chairman, Raffensperger’s office said they provided the DOJ with Georgia’s voter list and complied to the extent that Georgia law allows. His office filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Wednesday.
鈥淚f you and your colleagues wish to weaken the legal protections for Georgia voters鈥� private information and make millions of Georgians vulnerable to identity theft, you can certainly change the law, but that is not something that the Secretary of State鈥檚 office would support,鈥� the letter says.
At the meeting, Republican state Sen. Randy Roberston, who filed the resolution, argued Raffensperger could legally share the information.
鈥淗e continuously fails to show up and answer the questions and that is the absolute truth,鈥� said Robertson.
Why run 2020 again?
Since Trump often laments the 2020 election with a focus on Fulton County, where he was indicted over attempts to overturn the results, it鈥檚 not surprising that Jones wants to keep it on voters鈥� radar, said Georgia State University political science professor Dr. Jennifer McCoy. However, Jones will have to appeal to a broad swath of voters in the general election.
State GOP Chairman Josh McKoon said election security is a 鈥渒ey concern鈥� among Republican primary voters and candidates will continue to talk about it.
Shepherd said he鈥檚 surprised that a 鈥渂ureaucratic error鈥� is galvanizing the party鈥檚 MAGA wing as much as it is. Garland Favorito, a conservative activist known for espousing conspiracy theories and challenging the state鈥檚 2020 results, said Fulton County鈥檚 error is just one example of what he describes as Raffensperger鈥檚 lack of transparency.
Republicans like Jones 鈥渢hink that if they can win all the straw polls at the Republican Party barbecues, they鈥檒l probably win the nomination, when typically speaking, it鈥檚 the opposite,鈥� said Shepherd.
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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse 海角社区app Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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