GA Primary: Raffensperger To Investigate Votes In Fulton, DeKalb

ATLANTA, GA — After calls for action from Georgia’s Speaker of the House and the head of the state’s Republican party, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that he will investigate Fulton and DeKalb counties over voting problems.

“The voting situation today in certain precincts in Fulton and DeKalb counties is unacceptable,” Raffensperger said in a statement Tuesday. “Obviously, the first time a new voting system is used, there is going to be a learning curve, and voting in a pandemic only increased these difficulties. But every other county faced these same issues and were significantly better prepared to respond so that voters had every opportunity to vote."

Several counties in the Atlanta metro — mainly Fulton and DeKalb — already were experiencing long lines and voting-machine problems by the time Raffensperger made his announcement at midday. Both counties are largely run by Democrats, while Raffensperger is a Republican.

Neither Gwinnett nor Cobb counties are being investigated, even though both of those counties experienced problems as well. Gwinnett County is governed by a mix of parties, albeit mostly Republican, while Cobb County's government is almost entirely Republican.

Earlier Tuesday, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican, announced an investigation of his own through the House Governmental Affairs Committee.

“We are hearing anecdotes from around the state — particularly in Fulton County — this morning of unacceptable deficiencies: poll works not being properly trained, voting equipment not working and absentee ballots not being received, among other issues,” Ralston said in a statement. “Our poll workers give of their time to serve Georgians, and they do not deserve to be blamed for systemic problems beyond their control.”

An hour earlier, Georgia’s GOP issued a statement of its own, blaming Democrats.

“Just hours into Election Day, it has already become painfully apparent that Fulton County’s Democrat leadership is woefully unprepared to conduct today’s primary vote,” GOP Executive Director Stewart Bragg said in a statement on the party’s website. “The chair of the Fulton County Registration and Elections Board is a Democrat donor and a Democrat primary voter whose failed management has led to long lines, voting machine malfunctions, and scores of other avoidable problems.”

Democrats disagreed. Steve Bradshaw, presiding officer of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, said to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before Raffensperger’s announcement of an investigation that it was “astounding” the state would blame counties.

"I was raised that if you mess up, fess up,” Bradshaw told the Journal-Constitution.

Meanwhile, Georgia's pandemic primary continues. Patch's rundown of major candidates is here.