Ga. elections chief travels to D.C. to push national voting reforms

WASHINGTON - Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger traveled to Washington to urge federal officials to implement election reforms like the Peach State’s.

At the American Enterprise Institute in the nation’s capital on Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state should is a model for how elections should be run.

“Georgia leads the nation in election management. Our elections are accurate, secure, free, fair and fast. We think that’s all come together, people just saw that nationwide.”

The Republican state official has overseen Georgia elections for over five years now. He underwent national scrutiny for election security following the 2020 presidential election when then-President Donald Trump made a call to ask Raffensperger to change the results in Trump’s favor, but he refused.

Now, after a series of election reforms and record turnout in Georgia, Raffensperger believes now is the time for congressional lawmakers to implement Georgia’s reforms all across the country.

“You think about where we are right now with the new Congress. Now it’s just a great opportunity. How can we improve the election process, not just for 1 or 2 states, but for all 50 states.”

His key proposals include expanding tools to voters U.S. citizenship, requiring photo ID, banning ballot harvesting, cleaning voter lists and quick and accurate reporting of results.

And he believes the new Congress could successfully these proposals.

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“It’s another cycle and now that Republicans, you know, do have control. But I just think that common sense election reform makes sense.”

Raffensperger would like to see lawmakers here take action and hopefully before the next election cycle, so voters can have confidence in the process.

The 119th Congress will be sworn into office on January 3, 2025.

Here’s what Raffensperger is proposing:

• Citizenship verification. Raffensperger said Georgia has developed “a seamless way to citizenship by working closely with the Department of Driver Services.” He said federal legislation should expand the tools available to states to the U.S. citizenship of all voters. While federal law mandates U.S. citizenship for federal elections, “some municipalities have allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections,” he said. Raffensperger wants a constitutional amendment prohibiting non-citizens from voting in all federal elections.
• Photo ID. Citing Georgia’s success with photo ID requirements for all forms of voting, Raffensperger is calling for a similar standard in federal elections.
• Ban ballot harvesting. Raffensperger is proposing a nationwide ban on ballot harvesting, reinforcing the direct relationship between voters and the ballot box.
• Quick, accurate reporting of results, confirmed by audits. According to Raffensperger, all ballots should arrive by Election Day — except for those of military and overseas voters — and results should be tabulated and reported quickly and accurately. Those results should then be audited to bolster confidence in election outcomes. Raffensperger is calling for uniform, nationwide post-election audits.
• Clean voter lists. Raffensperger wants to modernize the National Voter Registration Act to allow states to clean lists closer to elections as long as high-quality, accurate data is used.

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