Georgia GOP leaders clash over election oversight

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Tensions inside Georgia’s Republican Party spilled into public view on Thursday at the Senate Ethics Committee.

The committee met at the Georgia Capitol to take up questions surrounding election administration.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones called on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who did not attend the hearing, despite being in the Capitol complex earlier in the day.

The dispute is unfolding as several Republican leaders position themselves for a run for the governor’s mansion. Jones, who currently leads all gubernatorial contenders in campaign fundraising, has called on Raffensperger to testify, accusing him of failures in election oversight. Raffensperger is also running for governor.

At the center of the conflict are recent admissions from Fulton County election officials that hundreds of thousands of ballot tabulator tapes from the 2020 election were not properly signed, a violation of state rules. Tabulator tapes act as receipts in the election process and are used to confirm that vote totals are accurate during certification.

Jones has argued that the election results should not have been certified under those circumstances.

In addition to calls for testimony, state Sen. Randy Robertson, a member of the Senate Ethics Committee, has filed a resolution urging Raffensperger to comply with federal requests from the U.S. Department of Justice to turn over Georgia’s complete voter roll.

“No elected official in this state is exempt from participating in any civil, criminal, or administrative investigation — including our secretary of state,” Robertson said.

Raffensperger has pushed back, saying the committee’s demands would require his office to release sensitive voter information, including Social Security numbers and driver’s license data, which he says would violate Georgia law.

In a letter to the committee chairman explaining his absence, Raffensperger said his office has already complied with federal requests to the fullest extent allowed under state law.

“I always follow the law and the Constitution,” Raffensperger said. “This resolution would actually require me to violate state law — and I won’t do that.”

What happens next remains unclear. Lawmakers could attempt to pursue Raffensperger’s testimony through the courts or take further legislative action, but no immediate decision was announced during the hearing.

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