Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp responds to Justice Dept. interest

ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has responded to Democratic Party of Georgia claims that his office had “attracted the interest” of the federal Justice Department with a barb aimed at department.

“The Department of Justice is like a yo-yo. Now they’re against something that they previously approved,” Kemp said Thursday in response to a request from The Albany Herald to comment on the Democratic Party’s statement.

Kemp’s office drew the interest of Justice when that federal agency was asked to look into alleged violations of the National Voter Registration and Help America Vote acts by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. The charges centered on what the state Democratic Party claims is a purging of legitimate voters from Georgia’s voter rolls.

NVRA governs voter registration and the maintenance of voter lists used in federal elections, and HAVA establishes minimum standards to be used in federal elections.

“Time and again, Brian Kemp has proven to be unqualified to run a 6-foot extension cord, much less Georgia’s elections,” Democratic Party of Georgia Chairman DuBose Porter said in statement. “This year, Georgia — and the rest of the country — will cast their ballots in the first major election since the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. There’s just too much at stake to trust a sloppy partisan like Kemp to administer our electoral process.”

DPG Communications Director Michael Smith accused Kemp of using “partisan gimmicks to undermine the integrity of Georgia’s elections.”

Smith said in a news release: “The Secretary of State’s website has a well-documented history of inadequacy. Just last year, Kemp’s office violated and undermined the economic security of Georgia voters by publishing private information — including Social Security numbers — of registered voters. Last year’s data breach forced him to spend our tax dollars to recover the disks and provide security services for voters whose privacy was violated.

“This year, Kemp admitted to inaccuracies in his own voter registration database that forced an unknown number of voters to vote in districts other than where they actually lived. Kemp has thus far refused to reopen qualifying in House District 151, while allowing the Georgia Republican Party to open qualifying in a state House primary three times.”

The state’s Democratic Party has challenged Kemp’s ruling in the House District 151 race, in which presumed Democratic qualifier James Williams, a former Albany police officer, was disqualified after a challenge by incumbent Republican Rep. Gerald Greene of Cuthbert. Greene, who is the only Republican representative in the state House who represents a majority (53 percent) African-American district, challenged Williams’ candidacy based on his residency.

Greene contended, and Kemp’s office agreed, that redistricting based on the 2010 census placed Williams in House District 154. The Democratic Party accused the Secretary of State’s Office of contacting the Dougherty County Elections office after Greene’s challenge and ordering that Williams’ voting district be changed. Dougherty Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson has declined to comment on those charges.

Williams and Greene are still awaiting a ruling by the Office of State Administrative Hearings on the residency challenge.

If allowed to run for the HD 151 seat, Williams would face Greene in the Nov. 8 general election.