Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office responded today to Donald Trump’s demands to help him overturn Georgia’s election results with a reminder that state law “prohibits the governor from interfering in the election.”
The Georgia Republican has become a favorite target of Trump, who said Sunday he was “ashamed” that he endorsed him in 2018 and tweeted today that the “hapless” governor should use non-existent “emergency powers.”
“Georgia law prohibits the governor from interfering in elections. The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order,” said Kemp spokesman Cody Hall.
“As the governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps – including a sample audit of signatures – to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised.”
Kemp has been largely silent for weeks over Trump’s attacks, which have escalated after he became the first Republican to lose Georgia in a presidential vote in nearly 30 years.
He said in a previous interview that he understands Trump’s “frustration” but that the law clearly sets out his duties.
The criticism could haunt Kemp through the 2022 midterms, when he is gearing up to face Stacey Abrams in a likely rematch.
It appears increasingly possible that he might first have to survive a primary challenge from a Trump-backed adversary — perhaps Doug Collins, a four-term congressman now leading the president’s Georgia recount effort.
Kemp has had little backup from other GOP officials.
Just as Republican elected officials have largely stood by as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is attacked by the president, Kemp’s staunchest supporters have stayed silent, wary of antagonizing Trump and his allies ahead of Jan. 5 runoffs for control of the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue didn’t come to his defense.
Neither did other top Republican officials.
Why won’t Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes. It will be a “goldmine” of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2020
Trump’s tweet today called on Kemp to use “his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State and do a match of signatures on envelopes.”
Signatures on absentee ballot envelopes were verified by county elections officials when they were received at county election offices.
But it’s impossible to “match” signatures to ballots, since they were separated from envelopes to protect the secret ballot, leaving no way to link voters to the candidates they chose.
Constitutional law professor Anthony Kreis added that there are no such emergency powers conferred on Kemp by the state constitution or Georgia law.
“Raffensperger is not only an independent state constitutional executive officer, he’s the designated chief elections officer by law,” he said. “Both have discharged their duties under the OCGA.”
Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also punched back — as he has repeatedly in the weeks since the Nov. 3 general election — at allegations of widespread election fraud that are circulating online.
Trump is among those criticizing the state’s handling of the election.
“There are those who are exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims, half-truths, misinformation and, frankly, they’re misleading the president as well, apparently,” Raffensperger said.
County election workers around the state are currently working on a recount of the presidential race that was requested by the Trump campaign, and Raffensperger said he expects them to finish by the Wednesday night deadline.
Under state law, the losing candidate can request a recount when the margin is less than 0.5%.
Certified results showed Trump losing to Biden by 12,670 votes, or 0.25%.
The recount, which is being done using scanners that read and tabulate votes, is the third time the votes in the presidential race are being counted in Georgia.
After the initial count following Election Day, Raffensperger selected the presidential race for an audit required by state law.
Because of the tight margin, he said, the audit required the roughly 5 million votes in that contest to be recounted by hand.