Raffensperger, Democratic challenger Nguyen spar over Georgia election law at secretary of state debate

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) and state Rep. Bee Nguyen (D) sparred over the state’s controversial election law at Tuesday’s debate. 

Raffensperger, Nguyen and Libertarian Ted Metz, a retired entrepreneur, met at the Atlanta Press Club for the secretary of state debate, much of which focused on the access voters have to participate in the state’s elections and the integrity of the vote.

Raffensperger defended the law that Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed last year, which increased voting regulations in limiting the use of ballot drop boxes and establishing voter ID requirements for absentee voting, but said he supports reforms.

The law also prohibits people from giving food or water to voters waiting in line and allows individuals to file an unlimited number of challenges against voters they suspect may have moved states.

Raffensperger said everyone’s interest is to have accurate voter rolls but “frivolous” challenges “gum up” the process. He said he would be offended if he had been living in a location for 10 to 20 years and his voter status was challenged. 

He said he supports reforms to the law during the next session of Georgia’s legislature but did not clarify what changes he would back. He said Georgia is “dynamic and mobile.” 

“We’re looking at 800,000 people a year that could potentially move in the state, out of the state, around the county, and so therefore it’s very important that we can update our voter rolls,” he said. 

Raffensperger said he received authority from the Georgia General Assembly to join the Electronic Registration Information Center, a data-matching tool meant to improve the accuracy of state voter registration systems. He said this allows the state to update its voter rolls objectively. 

Nguyen said the workload on poll workers has increased and funding has decreased since the election law was passed. 

“So what we’re looking at is more and more people are leaving because they don’t have the adequate resources to administer free and fair elections in all 159 counties, and poll workers are being threatened and harassed,” she said. 

Officials have warned that the country is facing a shortage of poll workers as a result of threats stemming from false allegations of voter fraud in 2020. 

Nguyen said the provisions of the election law that have added additional burdens on the workers need to be repealed, including the time they need to spend to go over the voter challenges. 

She said the secretary of state’s office should be more involved in recruiting and protecting poll workers in light of threats they have faced in the state over the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Each candidate also had an opportunity to ask another candidate a question. 

Raffensperger asked Nguyen if she believed the 2018 gubernatorial election was stolen from Democrat Stacey Abrams in favor of Kemp. 

Abrams has criticized Kemp for purging voter rolls of those who had not voted recently and has said that voter suppression and a lack of voter access cost her the race. 

Nguyen said she has always stood by the results of past elections. She said she and Abrams oppose laws making it harder for people to vote, including the election law, unlike Raffensperger. 

Nguyen mentioned a comment Raffensperger made about GOP lieutenant governor nominee Burt Jones, who signed on to be a fake elector as part of the plan to overturn President Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, in which the incumbent secretary of state referred to their interactions as “great.” 

She also said Raffensperger has called himself a “proud Trump supporter.” 

“We’re talking about two people who tried to overturn the will of the people, and I believe that poses a greater threat than somebody who has been trying to fight for free and fair elections,” she said, contrasting Trump and Jones with Abrams.