ATLANTA -- Tuesday, a voter registration drive got underway involving an organization called the New Georgia Project. Stacey Abrams, who's running for Georgia governor, founded the project. But the New Georgia Project has faced a lot of questions over the years – including from Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is now running for Governor against Abrams.
Abrams and Kemp have been clashing for years over her effort. Kemp has claimed Abrams’s group has produced sketchy voter registration documents. Abrams claims Kemp is trying suppress minority voters.
The organization’s video on YouTube depicts smiling volunteers going door to door registering new voters. In 2013, Abrams announced a goal to register 120,000 new minority voters. The New Georgia project claimed it had gathered more than 200,000 new registration forms – but it’s unclear how many of them made it onto Georgia voter rolls.
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By 2016, donors nationwide reportedly gave $12.5 million to the effort. The new Georgia Project has not disclosed a list of those donors, nor is it required to. But William Perry, founder of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs, thinks it should.
"This isn’t a political campaign, but they are registering voters. They’re taking people’s money. And they’re trying to produce more registered voters," Perry said. "That should be completely transparent."
The New Georgia Project has posted a summary of its expenditures here.
As head of the New Georgia Project, Abrams’ nonprofits reportedly paid her an average of $147,333 per year over three years. Which is more than the $139,339 the governor makes. Abrams' backers say it's a salary consistent with others leading Atlanta-based nonprofits.
Voters "need to ask the question, 'Is Stacey Abrams fiscally responsible with this organization?' because she may run the state and handle your tax dollars. So her responsibility and her ethics is a huge question," Perry said.
Abrams campaign released a statement saying the Democratic candidate is proud of the work she’s done registering voters and battling for ballot box access.
