A Rockdale County gas station may have gone too far in its attempt to encourage voters, state officials say.
Employees at a Conyers gas station are pushing back against allegations that early voters who showed up with “I voted” stickers would receive $5 in free gas, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Clerk Ali Momin told the news station the claims were false.
"There is no way," he said. "That is not true about this."
Offering anyone anything of value in exchange for voting is a felony in Georgia.
The drama started when Conyers mayoral candidate Ronnie Godwin allegedly posted on his Facebook page an ad for the alleged votes for gas deal.
“After you early vote tomorrow in the City of Conyers election, go get $5.00 of free gasoline at the Shell station at West Avenue and Green Street.
“Enter the store with your ‘I Voted’ decal and provide identification indicating you are a city of Conyers resident.
“Offer is limited to the first 100 participants.”
The clerks swore they’d never seen the post.
Clerk Mac Kahn said cameras record the store and anyone is welcome to check.
“We’ve done nothing wrong,” he told Channel 2.
The Rockdale County election office filed a complaint with the secretary of state’s office and an investigation was launched.
“We take it seriously,” Chris Harvey, with the elections office said. “One, because the allegation would amount to a violation of the law if it’s true, and (two), we place integrity, security and accountability at the highest level for elections.”
Godwin’s campaign released a statement saying they were, “aware of a possible complaint regarding our campaign acknowledging a ‘get out the vote’ effort by a local merchant. While we believe the complaint is totally unfounded, we have referred this matter to our legal team for review.”
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