Georgia's Secretary of State on Wednesday issued a brief statement addressing the widely-reported issues faced by many voters across the state during Tuesday's primary elections.
After a day filled with numerous reports of hours-long wait times, a shortage of available ballots and issues with new voting machines, Brad Raffensperger continued to place much of the blame on local elections offices.
"It is clear that some counties continue to not perform. It is the responsibility of the counties to properly deliver and install equipment. It is the responsibility of the counties to properly train its poll workers," he said in a press release sent out Wednesday evening. “As the Secretary of State, I will continue to work with our county elections boards and directors to train them to properly deliver, install and maintain our voting system."
Raffensperger said his office was working with the Georgia General Assembly to help give state officials more authority to intervene in elections at the local level, as well as the ability to force management changes and require counties to directly pay for any remedial actions taken.
"We are here to protect every voter. Republicans, Democrats and Independents deserve well run elections," he continued. "That is why we are proposing to the General Assembly legislation that will enable the state to intervene and look into failing elections offices, when it’s clear there are continued failures.”
The Secretary of State's office has already opened an investigation into Fulton County's election day issues, which Raffensperger said would include a look into the possible mishandling of absentee ballot applications.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2020/6/910919/addressing-tuesday-voting-issues-sec-of-state-raffensperger-places-blames-on-local-offices