GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger, local and state legislators attend Albany Area Chamber’s Government Affairs Rise ‘N Shine Breakfast

ALBANY, Ga. – Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, along with many other local and legislative leaders join the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce for their Government Affairs Rise ‘N Shine Breakfast.

The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce recently hosted their Government Affairs ‘Rise ‘N Shine’ Breakfast event, a platform dedicated to in-depth discussions on the upcoming Georgia Legislative Session. This event featured esteemed guest speakers, such as representatives of the Senate and House of Representatives, including Freddie Powell Sims, Gerald Greene, and Bill Yearta.

We had the privilege to engage in a conversation with Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who shared his valuable insight on election security and integrity.

“Georgia is ranked number one by the heritage foundation for election integrity. I think we have struck almost the perfect balance between accessibility with security. No matter how you vote in Georgia, it’s based on photo ID. You want to vote absentee, photo ID, you want to show up in person, photo ID, and that’s been held up in court. We were sued by that, but we actually won the court. Also, it’s one of those things that’s, “how do you measure it?” We do measure it, we have lines that have to be shorter than one hour. In the last election of 2022, we had the average wait time, which was about three minutes statewide. Also, we can audit and race with verifiable paper ballot, and what we’ve shown is we have accurate and we have secure elections. So, we have accessibility with security, and we think that’s the proper balance,” said Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

Given the substantial increase in voter turnout in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger discusses new strategies to efficiently manage the heightened demand.

“Right now, we are updating our voter registration database, so we are putting that in place. We started that last year, as soon as we finished up the 2020 cycle, we started doing our planning for that. And, this past year, we’ve been working on that, getting ready for the 2024 cycle. We call that GARVS, Georgia Automated Registration System. So, that really helps speed up things, really helping. We also are gonna have electric pole pads. Out of every single precinct across the state of Georgia; you will be able to show up and get your computer card to start your voting with your vote card in less than a minute. That is how fast some of these precincts have been running,” said Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

Raffensperger shares a message for citizens seeking greater engagement in the electoral process.

“Everyone should register to vote if you’re 18 and over. Meet all the qualifications. But, if you really want to understand how elections are operated, how it really works, volunteer to be a poll worker. We can always use more poll workers. In fact, back in 2020, our average poll workers were about 70 years after COVID. It’s now in the high sixties, but we love to have some fresh, young talent that wants to really see how this process works. Because once you go through that process, you’ll understand all the security, and double checks, and triple checks we have to make sure your vote is secure, that it will be accurately counted,” said Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

De’Andra Jacobs reporting.

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