NAACP Condemns Secretary Of State Brian Kemp’ Latest Effort To Disenfranchise Georgians


Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp (Rep.)
Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp (Rep.)

The office of the Georgia Secretary of State, which maintains the official records used by political parties to qualify candidates, has claimed its records wrongly stated the district residency for the incumbent candidate for House District 151. The clarification came after the challenger to 33-year incumbent

James Williams questioned his residency, which could disqualify Williams from the race. While the district mix-up dates back to when the state redrew district lines four years ago, the suspicious timing of the clarification has raised questions regarding partisan motives. Francys Johnson, Georgia NAACP president and Statesboro attorney released the following statements condemning the Secretary’s effort to disenfranchise Democratic voters of color:

“Instead of using the authority of his office to remove unnecessary barriers to civic participation, Brian Kemp has repeatedly provided the tools with which those barriers are constructed. He has used his office to disenfranchise Georgians of color, launch trumped up investigations, and to kick eligible voters off of the rolls. Now, in one of his more naked partisan machinations, he is keeping an African-American candidate from qualifying to run for office in the sneakiest and most underhanded way possible. It is time for Georgians to hold him accountable, and ask why he still has a job.”

“Georgia’s conservative super-majority has gerrymandered districts so badly, even they can’t keep up. And now, because of the voter data that Secretary of State Brian Kemp is responsible for maintaining, James Williams, a qualified candidate who has voted in his district for the last 18 years, is being blocked from the ballot. It took a candidate running for office to bring these issues with the district records to light – four years late – so how many other Georgians have been disenfranchised by voting in the wrong district?”

“Kemp refused to take responsibility for leaking 6 million Georgia voters’ social security numbers and illegally purging hundreds of thousands of registered voters from the rolls. And now he’s refusing to take responsibility for blocking a candidate from the ballot and further disenfranchising Georgia voters. I am utterly disgusted with the partisan manipulation and chicanery. We expect Sec. Kemp to apologize to

Georgia voters and explain to them how he plans to correct his latest massive failure or just quit and let someone qualified to run our Election system, the heart of our democracy, have the job.”


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