ATLANTA — A hotly contested race in Georgia has some of the most undecided voters.
An 11Alive Survey USA poll shows that 18 percent of voters are unsure of who they will support in the Secretary of State’s race. All candidates participated in a debate Tuesday, with a race from two years ago remaining a main part of the discussions.
While trying to go forward in this election, the Republican Secretary of State incumbent reminded his opponents that he stood up against false election claims.
“We’ve been pushing back against election deniers since 2018, so 2020 was not our first rodeo," Raffensperger said.
But Libertarian Ted Metz, also referencing the 2020 presidential race, questioned Raffensperger multiple times on election integrity, alluding to what he called "obvious corruption."
"I’m the only candidate on this stage that would stand up to these shenanigans," Metz said.
A surveillance video from 2021 also came into question with Democrat State Rep Bee Nguyen calling out Raffensperger’s office over why no one’s been charged for a breach in Coffee County’s election offices by two operatives working with a Trump attorney.
"This is about public trust," Nguyen said. "And the Secretary of State's Office mishandled that investigation."
“I believe that what happened in Coffee County should be investigated and people who broke the law should go to jail,” Raffensperger responded.
Nguyen, not letting up on Raffensperger, said Georgia’s election law, SB202 born out of the 2020 controversy, makes it difficult for voters and election workers.
The law in part allows any voter an unlimited number of challenges against other voters, which resulted in thousands of voter challengers.
Nguyen argued the challenges take precious resources and result in threats against poll workers.
“Many of the challenges have been thrown out because there’s no probable clause. Here we are taking critical election resources and addressing issues that should not be the law of the land," Nguyen argued.
Raffensperger said he supports reforming the mass challenges provision and added early voting numbers refute notions the law suppresses votes.
"The first day of early voting was yesterday. We had 131,000 people show up to vote, almost double what we had for the gubernatorial race five years ago,” he said.
One of the few non-2020 election-related topics: Georgia’s heartbeat bill. Nguyen is strongly against the state’s abortion law, stating, “I’m the only candidate on this stage who is both pro-choice and pro-democracy.”
When asked about abortion, Raffensperger responded by stating Nguyen doesn’t understand the job of the Secretary of State.
In the end, Raffensperger is proud of his record, Nguyen believes she’ll do better with voting rights and voter laws, and Metz still embraces some 2020 election claims.