Raffensperger says Georgia election officials on guard ahead of 2024

Narcan distributed to local election workers
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announces the date of Georgia’s presidential primary as March 12, 2024 at the Georgia State Capitol on Thursday, May 4, 2023.  (Natrice Miller/natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announces the date of Georgia’s presidential primary as March 12, 2024 at the Georgia State Capitol on Thursday, May 4, 2023. (Natrice Miller/natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told a crowd Tuesday that election workers are on alert for threats in a “pressure cooker” environment before the 2024 presidential election.

Raffensperger said election workers are getting ready after a letter containing fentanyl was recently mailed to Fulton County’s elections office and elections workers such as Ruby Freeman faced harassment after the 2020 election.

Hundreds of Georgia election officials received Narcan, a medication that reverses an opioid overdose, during a conference in Athens on Tuesday, Raffensperger said.

“We have all these things that keep us up at night. Our job right now is to be prepared for the 2024 election,” Raffensperger said during The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politically Georgia event at Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta. “Some people are just off-kilter. And I just think we need to get back to those values that our parents raised us with, the values of our country.”

“We’re in a much better place than other states, but yet we still have some angry people out there,” Raffensperger said. “All that anger and vitriol, those thoughts of retribution, I don’t think that’s the American way.”

Election officials are already preparing for next year’s elections, starting with the March 12 presidential primary, Raffensperger said.

Raffensperger said voters need to understand that Georgia will run “fair, honest, accurate elections” no matter which party’s candidate wins next year.