ATLANTA — Georgia’s four Republican candidates for secretary of state all say the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s new duty to investigate elections is warranted.  

But incumbent Brad Raffensperger’s three primary election challengers blamed his leadership for the need, stemming from what they allege is lack of election integrity and election fraud from the 2020 elections.

“The ‘Big Lie’ in all of this is that there were no problems in this past election,” U.S. Congressman Jody Hice said during an Atlanta Press Club and GPB debate May 2. “This past election was an absolute disaster under the leadership of (Raffensperger) and it’s for that reason I’m leaving my very safe congressional district to take on what I believe is the worst secretary of state, perhaps in our nation.”  

However, Hice did not provide evidence of what he called “an absolute disaster.” 

“The Big Lie” led by former President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 election, asserts that voter fraud took place leading to President Joe Biden’s victory. Raffensperger has been attacked by Trump and supporters for not following Trump’s demand he “find” enough votes for the former president to win the November 2020 presidential election.    

Despite numerous ballot recounts and audits from various agencies (including the GBI) confirming Democrat victories, Hice — who has been endorsed by Trump — and Republican challengers David Belle Isle and T.J. Hudson all remain doubtful of the validity of ballots cast in 2020.

“I made sure we had safe and secure elections,” Raffensperger said. “We stood up in the middle of the pandemic for security features like an absentee ballot task force to make sure that if there was any fraud that we have people like Bobby Christine handpicked by President Trump as U.S. Attorney in the Southern District to be on that task force.”

He questioned why Hice has not attempted any election reform at the federal level during his nearly eight-year tenure in Congress.  

“It is up to the states to secure elections, not the federal government. While I have been fighting to prevent federal takeover of our elections, Brad Raffensperger was making deals with (Democrat gubernatorial candidate) Stacey Abrams and opened wide the door for election fraud in every way,” Hice responded.  

The “deal” Hice referenced is a lawsuit filed by Democrats against Raffensperger that resulted in a “consent decree.” The agreement required the State Election Board to notify voters within three business days of receiving an absentee ballot if their ballot was rejected due to signature issues.  

Despite Raffensperger’s assuredness of election integrity and investigations, Belle Isle said the incumbent secretary of state could have done more to ensure authenticity of absentee ballots.  

“He has failed to be curious. He’s happy to throw something through the audit in terms of putting the same ballots through and getting the same results over and over again but never once questioned his own results. … We’ve shifted the burden in favor of accepting all absentee ballots, whether they be invalid or valid,” Belle Isle said.

Raffensperger said absentee ballots were verified via signature matching, adding in 2020, the signature match rejection rate was 11% higher in 2020.  

“We made sure that (the counties) could check signatures when you send in your absentee ballot application and also when you sent back in your ballot,” Raffensperger said. 

Belle Isle questioned Hice about his accomplishments as a congressman, to which Hice acknowledged his participation in a tax cut and his role as a member of the House Freedom Caucus.  

“I would love for Mr. Hice to stay in Congress, especially with the expectation that Republicans regain the majority,” said Belle Isle, an attorney and business owner. “The issue of running a Secretary of State’s office which takes executive authority and executive ability and executive accomplishment, I’m the only one here that has that experience to bring to this office.”  

Raffensperger touted some of his accomplishments, including Georgia’s number one ranking for election integrity by Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy advocacy foundation. He added that under his leadership, Georgia has one of the cleanest voter lists, he has conducted a citizenship audit, audited voting machines and ballots, and passed voter ID requirements for all forms of voting (passed through the legislature through SB 202 in 2021).   

Raffensperger said he also banned ballot harvesting, or the practice of groups of volunteers collecting and submitting completed absentee ballots for voters.

“What an absolute joke for you to say you outlawed ballot harvesting, you created ballot harvesting in Georgia,” said Hice, claiming to have seen video of 5,600 ballots dropped off in the late night hours by just over 200 people. “…Almost 7 million unsolicited ballot requests that you sent out, opening the door to all this.” 

Raffensperger has been criticized by supporters of “The Big Lie” for mailing out more than 7 million absentee ballot applications in early 2020 to provide convenience to voters due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Raffensperger, like many other states, also implemented the use of absentee ballot drop boxes during the pandemic.  

Hice supports doing away with absentee drop boxes, while Belle Isle and Hudson seemed on the fence about it, but suggested enhanced security and surveillance of them.

“I never use the ballot drop off box…I always had a ballot drop off box, it’s called the United States Post Office. But in metro (areas) I understand it makes the process a lot easier,” Hudson said. “But they have to monitored at all times. They can’t be in random locations. Senate Bill 202 did address that. So since it’s the law, we have to go by the law and I’ll enforce it.”

The four Republican candidates are vying for the Republican nomination in May 24 primary elections and the winner will face the Democrat nominee in November.  Early voting started May 2. 

When asked how they would have handled to the 2020 election if secretary of state, each candidate, in part, responded: 

Belle Isle

“What that audit did not do is authenticate the validity of those ballots. All it did was record the result,” he said.  

Belle Isle said he would move to voters using hand-marked paper ballots and ban no excuse absentee ballot voting. He added he would support a process for judges to make decisions on election litigation prior to the certification election results.

“But all these are steps as their next secretary of state that I will take to make sure that not only do we have secure elections but we can win back the trust that Brad Raffensperger lost the people of Georgia.”

Hice 

Hice agreed with Belle Isle on the validity of absentee ballots from 2020 but said he would not have agreed to the 2020 consent decree.  

He added: “I would have never brought in (absentee) drop-off boxes to this state. I would have never opened wide the door for voter fraud to occur like (Raffensperger) has done.”

Hudson

The secretary of state must be accessible, Hudson said, claiming that Raffensperger was “absent” during elections when counties needed assistance. 

“Just being accessible that’s what it’s about. And there’s a lot of lack of leadership with our current secretary of state,” said Hudson, a former probate judge and elections superintendent.

Raffensperger

Raffensperger continued to shoot down “rumors” and lack of honesty related to the 2020 election, including a claim that more than 10,000 dead people voted during the election. After investigation, that number was reduced to four confirmed.  

But that rumor still lives a year and a half later. 

“It gets down to it was actual total disinformation, misinformation, outright lie. And there’s not much I can do about that because Jody Hice has been running from one rumor to another for the last 18 months.,” Raffensperger said. “And how can you have confidence from people that should be holding a responsible position as a sitting congressman that should be telling the truth?”