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The Georgia Election Board called a special meeting Wednesday to allow Secretary of State Brian Kemp to lay out his case involving dozens of allegedly fraudulent voter registration applications submitted by a Democratic-backed group.
It will be the first time Kemp addresses the scope of an investigation he launched last week, after receiving complaints about the New Georgia Project. Among the problems he listed were applications with inaccurate or false information, applications completed or “forged” after telephone conversations between voters and representatives of the group, and voters being told they were legally required to re-register to vote.
“We’re anxious to be forthcoming and as transparent as possible,” said Jared Thomas, Kemp’s spokesman. “We feel this is the proper venue to do that.”
The board will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 341 of the state Capitol. The board originally expected to take up the case at its regular Oct. 7 meeting — a day after the state’s voter registration deadline.
State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, founded the registration group in November, and she has identified fewer than 25 forms out of 85,000 submitted so far that are involved in the investigation. State officials, however, have repeatedly refused to give an exact number involved in the case.
Abrams and more than a dozen civil rights and religious leaders have vocally questioned the timing of Kemp’s inquiry. She has also said the group had communicated frequently with Kemp’s office while undertaking the voter drive and had even pointed out problems with some forms that it had collected. State law requires those forms to be turned in anyway to local county registrars and vetted by the state office.
Twelve counties have reported complaints now included in the inquiry: Bartow, Butts, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Effingham, Gwinnett, Henry, Muscogee, Tatnall, Terrell and Toombs.
Abrams’ group has until Tuesday to respond to a subpoena issued by Kemp as part of the investigation. She has said the group is exploring its legal options.
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