The Donald Trump administration has done little to protect the 2018 midterm elections from the Iranians, the Chinese, and especially the Russians. All these countries can even listen in to the president’s calls from a non-secure cell phone, and POTUS insists on keeping it anyway. Now, someone has attempted to hack Georgia’s state voter registration system, but imagine who the GOP candidate went after.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who was supposed to manage the integrity of the state elections, is also running for governor against Stacey Abrams. That automatically put the race under scrutiny. The candidates were roughly one percentage point apart at this late date.
When a hacking occurred, Kemp did not look toward the natural culprits. No, he pointed his finger at the Georgia Democrats and opened an investigation into the Democratic party. He also notified the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which has an outstanding cyber unit.
Kemp’s Press Secretary Candice Broce said in a written statement that the Democrats were being investigated for “possible cyber crimes.”
‘While we cannot comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation, I can confirm that the Democratic Party of Georgia is under investigation for possible cyber crimes. We can also confirm that no personal data was breached and our system remains secure. We can also confirm that no personal data was breached and our system remains [secure].’
President Jimmy Carter, who is from Georgia and lives there still, has even written Kemp a letter strongly suggesting that he resign his position as Georgia’s Secretary of State due to conflicts of interest. Apparently, Kemp has ignored that powerful request.
Kemp has been intent upon winning the race for governor at all costs. Last month a report discovered 53,000 voter registration applications that Kemp had held back. They were predominately African-American’s and women’s applications.
Georgia instituted a new law since the last state election, in the summer. The new law required an exact match on voter applications and I.D. A clerical error on behalf of the state government, such as a dropped hyphen, could cause a person to be blocked from voting. Not only that, the state would not have to notify the applicant.
Stacey Abrams has been actively getting out the vote. She has had buses crisscrossing the state, urging people to not only register to vote but to get out there and vote.
Then, Oprah called Abrams and said that she wanted to help the campaign. Some of the networks televised the star as she spoke with Abrams at a large campaign event. Oprah told the story of a man who for the first time in his life was able to vote after the laws changed in the 1960’s.
The man put on his only suit, his good shoes, and walked six miles to his voting site. They told the man: “Boy, you got the wrong place.” He turned and walked another six miles. When he got there, they said: “Boy, you got the wrong place.”
They sent him another six miles to another location. When he finally got there, Oprah says that they told him: “Boy, you too late. The polls are closed.” After walking 18 miles, he never got to vote. He died before the next election.
Oprah urged everyone to vote, not only from themselves but for all the people who came before them.
A federal judge upheld the injunction that prevented Georgia election officials from tossing absentee ballots. These were the ones where the signature did not match the voter registration card signature.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube.
