There has been a lot of talk about people moving to Georgia to vote in the run-off election for the two US Senate races. Leftists are urging people to move to Georgia, register to vote there, cast votes for the Democrats, and then move back home. Republicans have been wringingtheir hands over this and contemplating whether they should fight fire with fire and consider doing the same thing even though it is illegal. While I am pleased that some Republicans are willing to fight hard against Democrat election stealing, most are simply wringing their hands in ignorance.
The Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, has already suspended voter registration until after the run-off election for people moving into the state. I learned this by calling the Election Department of the Georgia Secretary of State Office. This should mostly take care of the problem of out of state voters moving in to affect the results of the run-off election.
However, Georgia law only allows people registered to vote in the original election to vote in the run-off election. This means that any newly registered voters, even if they resided in Georgia before the November 3 election, should not be allowed to vote in the run-off if they were not registered on November 3. It is not clear that the law is being followed to allow only voters legally entitled to vote to cast ballots. Voter registration for Georgia residents who resided there before November 3 has not been suspended.
This is important for two reasons. First, the law should be followed regarding the election to promote a fair outcome under rule of law. Intuitively, it is not fair or reasonable for people not eligible to vote in the original election to vote in the run-off because the run-off is a continuation of the election process started on November 3 and not a separate election. In fact, it would be even more reasonable to only allow registered voters who actually voted on November 3 to participate in the run-off election, but that is not the law.
There is a second reason for not allowing any voters unregistered on November 3 to vote in the run-off. It is too easy to for people to fraudulently claim they were residents of Georgia in October in order to cast illegal ballots in the run-off. Unscrupulous Democrats would have no trouble forging rental contracts, utility bills, and other documents establishing residency as of October. Under the law, these people would not be allowed to vote in the run-off anyway because they were not registered voters on November 3. However, it is critical that the law be followed. It is not clear that the Georgia Secretary of State will be permitting only those registered on November 3 to vote in the run-off. I am awaiting a call to clarify their policy.
It is critical that Georgia’s voter lists include only legal voters for the run-off election. Close scrutiny by poll watchers will be required to prevent fraud. In addition, careful scrutiny will have to be made of all voters, in person and especially by mail, to determine that the person voting is actually the registered voter. Anyone voting in the run-off who did not vote in the November 3 election should be subjected to special scrutiny because of greater potential for election fraud.
Georgia’s political leaders and Republican Party leaders need to ensure that this election is done according to the law, and that strict standards of voter identification are met.
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Georgia Statute: § 21-2-501. Number of votes required for election
A provision of this statute specifies that only people who were registered to vote in the original election are allowed to vote in the run-off election. It is critical that this law be followed. Anyone registering after the original election is not allowed to vote in the run-off. Georgia state government officials and the Republican Party need to ensure that no recently registered voters (after the original election) are allowed to vote in the run-off. Poll watchers need to be prepared to challenge the eligibility of voters on these grounds.
(10) The run-off primary, special primary runoff, run-off election, or special election runoff shall be a continuation of the primary, special primary, election, or special election for the particular office concerned. Only the electors who were duly registered to vote and not subsequently deemed disqualified to vote in the primary, special primary, election, or special election for candidates for that particular office shall be entitled to vote therein, and only those votes cast for the persons designated as candidates in such run-off primary, special primary runoff, run-off election, or special election runoff shall be counted in the tabulation and canvass of the votes cast. No elector shall vote in a run-off primary or special primary runoff in violation of Code Section 21-2-224.
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