Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is suing Georgia unfairly for its new voting law when officials in other states impose the same standards upon their voters.
U.S. Justice Department officials announced last week they will sue the Peach State over its new voting law Senate Bill 202.
But Jones emailed supporters Sunday and said USDOJ officials need to evaluate why they are singling out Georgia.
“Everyone has weighed in on the Biden DOJ’s lawsuit against Georgia – but no one is talking about why the federal government is suing Georgia, and not any of the other 17 states that have enacted some 28 laws to secure our elections since the 2020 debacle. This partisan DOJ is targeting Georgia because our governor and secretary of state are the only ones who went out of their way to tout our election as being the most secure election in Georgia history, while simultaneously pushing for more secure elections in the future. But [Brian] Kemp and [Brad] Raffensperger can’t have it both ways and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland knows it. The DOJ quickly recognized our leadership’s contradictory actions as an area of weakness it could exploit,” Jones told supporters in an email.
“Now, Georgia finds itself in a difficult and costly position to have to defend itself from an out-of-control federal government with an ax to grind. It appears to me, the only reason Brian Kemp signed SB 202 into law, is to save face with Republicans ahead of his bid for re-election. He didn’t secure the election when it mattered and because of his actions, in part – Biden is in the White House, where Donald Trump should be, weaponizing his DOJ against our great state.”
Georgia’s new voter reform requires, among other things, voter ID on all absentee ballots, increased oversight of local election boards that fail to follow state election law, and secured drop boxes around the clock.
The November 2020 election, according to Kemp, saw a 350 percent increase in the use of absentee balloting, more than 1.3 million absentee ballots total compared to election day in 2018.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Vernon Jones” by Vernon Jones.
