The 2020 election cast a national spotlight on voting in Georgia and on the state’s top elections officer.
When Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused President Donald Trump’s demand to “find” enough votes to reverse his loss, what had been a lower-profile state office became a lightning rod.
Six years later, Georgia remains a battleground in the fight over voting. That was underscored in January when the FBI seized Fulton County’s 2020 ballots as part of what the Trump administration described as a criminal probe.
Raffensperger is running for governor. Whoever replaces him will oversee one of the most politically combustible issues in the state.
The secretary of state oversees elections in Georgia and certifies the state’s results. The office also oversees corporations and professional licensing.
Here’s a look at the nine candidates.
Democrats
Cam T. Ashling
Credit: Photo Courtesy of Cam Ashling
Credit: Photo Courtesy of Cam Ashling
Cam T. Ashling is a political organizer, small-business owner and licensed stockbroker who has never held elected office. She left Vietnam as a child with her family an came to the United States.
If elected, the Gwinnett County resident says she would modernize the office and expedite licensing processes. She has also long supported moving the state to hand-marked paper ballots counted by machines.
Dana Barrett
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett is an outspoken opponent of Trump and MAGA Republicans who have cast doubt on Georgia’s elections.
She was one of two commissioners who voted against appointing a pair of Republican nominees to the Fulton County Board of Elections, defying a lower court order for the commission to seat them and labeling them far-right “extremists.” Last month, the Georgia Court of Appeals sided with her and the county, overturning a lower court contempt ruling.
If elected, Barrett says she aims to secure elections, streamline licensing and protect seniors from scams and cyberattacks.
Penny Brown Reynolds
Brown Reynolds is a former Fulton County State Court judge and onetime host of the reality TV show “Family Court with Judge Penny.”
She served in the Biden administration as a senior official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
If elected, she says she aims to safeguard vulnerable communities from fraud, modernize professional licensing, protect voting rights and restore trust in elections.
Adrian Consonery Jr.
Consonery is a community organizer. The Democrat from Marietta has never held elected office.
Consonery says he wants to modernize the state’s licensing processes and the voter ID verification for absentee ballots. He also wants to launch voter awareness campaigns about registration and mail-in balloting.
Republicans
Tim Fleming
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Fleming, a small-business owner from Covington, is the chair of a House committee tasked with proposing changes to election laws.
The state legislator formerly served as Gov. Brian Kemp’s chief of staff before running for the state House in 2022. He also served in senior positions in the secretary of state’s office when Kemp held that role.
Fleming pledges to deport illegal immigrants who attempt to vote in Georgia, expedite professional licensing and “make it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.”
Vernon Jones
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Jones, who switched from the Democratic Party in the wake of the 2020 election, formerly served as the DeKalb County CEO and a state representative. Jones has called himself the “Black Donald Trump” and supported the president’s claims of a “rigged” 2020 election.
In 2022, Jones ran for governor but later dropped out and ran for an open seat in the U.S. House. Trump endorsed Jones, but he lost in the Republican primary to U.S. Rep. Mike Collins.
If elected, Jones says he wants to implement the “strongest possible measures to ensure” only U.S. citizens participate in Georgia elections, limit absentee voting and modernize the state’s professional licensing system. He also supports Georgia switching to hand-marked paper ballots.
Kelvin King
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Kelvin King, the husband of State Election Board member Janelle King, is a Republican who lost the GOP primary for U.S. Senate to Herschel Walker in 2022.
King and his wife have been outspoken critics of Raffensperger and his former chief operating officer, Gabriel Sterling, who also is running for the Republican nomination.
If elected, King says he seeks to ditch Georgia’s voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems. He says he wants to transition to a hand-marked paper ballot system counted by hand and remove Georgia from a multistate voter accuracy group intended to help identify outdated registrations. Instead, King wants to cross-check voter data directly with other states. King also seeks to expedite professional licensing processes.
Ted Metz
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
Metz is a former libertarian candidate for governor and former chair of the Georgia Libertarian Party.
During his 2018 bid for governor, he received less than 1% of the vote. A Navy veteran, Metz is retired from a career in insurance and finance.
He says he supports moving away from the state’s voting machines and toward hand-marked paper ballots counted by hand. He also opposes the use of absentee ballot drop boxes and wants to limit mail-in voting.
Gabriel Sterling
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Sterling is likely the most well-known candidate in the Republican primary race. He was a prominent defender of the state’s voting system in the wake of Trump’s narrow 2020 loss.
He’s a former chief operating officer of the secretary of state’s office, where he became a close ally of Raffensperger’s. Sterling oversaw the installation of the state’s current touchscreen voting system in time for the 2020 election, setting him apart from some Trump loyalists who oppose voting machines.
Before joining the secretary of state’s office, he was a member of the Sandy Springs City Council.
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