Augusta, Ga. (WJBF) – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger focused on election integrity during a speech at an Augusta Exchange Club meeting Thursday.
“We will continue to ensure that we have fair and honest elections in Georgia,” Raffensperger said.
He addressed the Election Integrity Act as well as criticism of the Queue Relief portion of the Act that prohibits providing food and water to people waiting in long voting lines.
“We’ve had people who actually came into this 150 zone that wasn’t campaigning and just gave people bottled water, but they were really trying to make their pitch at the last minute,” Raffensperger said.
A lawsuit was filed in May to challenge the “line relief” that allows voting rights organizations to continue distributing food and water to voters.
Raffensperger said the goal of the line-relief portion of the law was only to limit political campaigning in the voting line.
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“At 151 feet, water is fine, but it just didn’t make sense in a November race or a December tie-breaker. People were political and that’s why we put an end to that.”
In 2020, some voters waited in long lines for hours on Election Day, but Raffensperger said long lines won’t be a problem in the upcoming November election.
“Districts need to make sure they have enough poll workers and enough equipment on site to keep these queues under an hour,” Raffensperger said.
A preliminary hearing was held last week for the Line Relief portion of the Election Integrity Act.
