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.

Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.

A former Georgia House member has pleaded guilty to lying to collect federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Karen Bennett’s guilty plea to one count of making false statements to collect $13,940 had been expected after she waived her indictment on Jan. 5. 

Bennett, 70, had resigned from the House in the days before she was charged.

“Serving in this capacity has truly been a labor of love, and one I will deeply miss,” she wrote in her resignation letter.

Prosecutors said Bennett, a physical therapist, lied in 2020 when she stated she was being prevented by quarantine from working for Metro Therapy Providers, a company Bennett owned. Prosecutors said that in reality, Bennett’s role with the company was administrative and she worked from a home office, instead of providing therapy to clients. They also allege that Metro Therapy continued operating and generating income after a brief disruption.

In addition, prosecutors say Bennett failed to disclose that she was also receiving $905 in week pay from a church. Bennett has been a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“Bennett was elected to represent her fellow citizens and took a solemn oath to promote the best interests and prosperity of the state of Georgia,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said. “Instead, she violated that oath and, during an unprecedented emergency, lied to line her own pockets with taxpayer money intended to help community members in need.”

Following her guilty plea, the former lawmaker’s attorneys asked for her to be sentenced, but U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross declined, setting sentencing for April 15. Bennett’s lawyers said she will pay back the $13,490 but said prosecutors have agreed to seek no prison time or supervised release.

Bennett, 70, was first elected in 2012. Gov. Brian Kemp has called a March 10 special election to replace her in House District 94, which includes parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff would follow April 7. The current legislative session is scheduled to end April 2.

She’s the second Democratic House member to be charged with lying to obtain federal unemployment assistance during the pandemic. Georgia State Representative Sharon Henderson is also facing federal charges after investigators say she illegally collected nearly $18,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits while serving as an elected official. 

Investigators say Henderson falsely reported in her application that she worked for the school system throughout 2019 and as recently as March 10, 2020, and that her workplace had shut down because of the COVID-19 public health emergency. She then allegedly filed weekly certifications claiming she could not report to work due to COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. 

Henderson remains in office. A review commission is supposed to recommend to Kemp on Thursday whether Henderson should be suspended from office pending trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.