Local time Thursday (Dec. 10), Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R) announced that he will seek to replace the state’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).
The Republican state House speaker told reporters at a news conference that he wants to work to pass a state constitutional amendment that would transfer the power to choose a secretary of state from voters to lawmakers.
“I think it’s time we looked at another way to elect a secretary of state in Georgia.” He said, “I’m very serious about it.”
Ralston said he learned after talking with Tennessee’s secretary of state that he could let lawmakers choose the person who would be qualified for the job. “He volunteered to me that he and his office really felt in the process that they were accountable to the legislature because they knew that we were accountable to the people.” He said.
Joe State’s constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority in both the state Senate and House of Representatives to pass. Between 1996 and 2018, about 84 percent of amendments passed on the ballot. Republicans held a 35-21 majority in the state Senate and a 105-75 majority in the state House of Representatives. But to pass the amendment, both chambers still need to get some Democratic support.
Joe State Secretary of State, Republican Laffensperger, was elected in 2018. Many Republicans are deeply disappointed in him because he signed an unconstitutional consent decree with Democrats in March that loosened election safeguards; he is also accused of blocking verified signatures in the Joe recount, and he should have stepped down after a slew of election irregularities.
Ralston said he was “quite shocked” that Laffensperger’s office refused to attend Thursday’s state hearing. He said, “In my career serving this Legislature, I can’t even remember a constitutional officer refusing to come before a House or Senate committee to provide information that might be helpful to the people’s representatives.”
The Epoch Times asked the Secretary of State’s office if they had promised to attend the hearings and later changed their decision. An office spokesman quoted a tweet from Gabriel Sterling, an office official and executive manager of the state voting system, saying that state lawyers advised against sending someone “because of pending litigation.”
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