Georgia Secretary of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp hit a roadblock when attempting to vote for himself on Tuesday. Getting sued by Georgia voters on election night is bad enough, but here’s some salt for that open wound.
Kemp, like others in the Peach State, experienced some technical difficulties at the polls.
When Kemp attempted to cast a vote, his voter card said “invalid,” according to WSB-TV. He had to get another card.
Kemp has been plagued by myriad issues leading up to final countdown in the race against Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams, much of it stemming from the tension between his office of Secretary of State and his gubernatorial ambitions.
As we alluded to in the opening, five Georgia voters filed a lawsuit at 5 p.m. on Tuesday to prevent Kemp from “presiding over his own election.” That would prevent him from certifying results or presiding over “any runoff or recount procedures that would normally be exercised by the Secretary of State’s Office or the Board of Elections, on which he also sits.”
The plaintiffs cited Kemp’s recent press release accusing Democrats of hacking the state’s voter registration system as evidence of his “bias.” It wasn’t the first time Kemp made a hacking claim. He once accused the Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security of a hacking attempt, but that was debunked.
The voters claimed in the lawsuit that Kemp has “violated the constitutional right to due process” as enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment, violated the Right to Vote and Right of Free Association in Violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and violated the First Amendment. They sought an emergency temporary restraining order.
Kemp has previously dismissed voter suppression as a “farce,” and has also said he wouldn’t recuse himself if the race between him and Abrams ended in a recount. He has also faced multiple claims of voter suppression that disproportionately affects immigrants, black voters, and people filing absentee ballots.
Previously, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking Georgia election officials from tossing absentee ballots or voter registration applications over mismatched signatures.
[Image via WSB-TV screengrab]