Georgia gubernatorial candidate confident election will be fair despite allegations of voter suppression

Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams said Sunday that she remains confident the Georgia gubernatorial election will be fair, despite a report that 53,000 voter registration applications are on hold with the office of her Republican opponent, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Abrams said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Kemp is “absolutely” making an intentional decision to keep thousands of voters off the state’s rolls.

“We know this is a flawed system that has a disproportionate effect on people of color, but it also has the ability to erode trust in our system,” Abrams said.

{mosads}”I know that Secretary Kemp is well aware of this, and it’s part of a pattern of behavior where he tries to tilt the playing field in his favor or in the favor of his party,” she continued. “This should not require the erosion of public trust.”

Abrams and voting rights advocates have accused Kemp of attempting to suppress the vote following an Associated Press report that found 53,000 voter registration applications are on hold with just weeks to go before the election.

Critics have noted that the applications on hold primarily affect African-American and women voters, and Abrams’s campaign has called on Kemp to resign.

Kemp has said he is merely doing his job by enforcing a law passed by the state legislature that requires an individual’s name on their identification to be an exact match with the name on the voter rolls.

Abrams said Sunday that the practice is “problematic” and creates “another set of hurdles for people who simply want to exercise their right to vote.”

However, she said she’s confident the gubernatorial race in November will be fair, citing efforts from her campaign, the Democratic Party and national groups that focus on voter protections.

Abrams is seeking to become the first Democrat elected governor in Georgia in roughly 20 years. She currently trails Kemp by 2 percentage points, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls in the race. 

Prominent national Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), have rallied around Abrams in the race, while President Trump has backed Kemp.

Tags Cory Booker Donald Trump Georgia governor's race Joe Biden voting rights

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