Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told members of the Buckhead Business Association on Nov. 3 that he is hopeful moving the state’s presidential primary to from February to March will convince Republican Presidential candidates to debate in Georgia.
He said he expects to have some news about that possibility soon.
Georgia law previously required the state to hold the presidential primary in the first Tuesday in February of a presidential election year. The state Legislature changed the law to give the Secretary of State more flexibility, and Kemp set the primary date for March 6, 2012. He said because Georgia’s primary traditionally occurred so early in the process, the state was largely ignored by candidates on the campaign trail.
He said the new primary date should encourage candidates to campaign in Georgia and focus on Georgia issues. That includes a potential high-profile debate.
“I am very optimistic about our chances of landing a nationally publicized and televised debate before our primary,” Kemp said. “Hopefully, we’ll have some good news to share about that soon.”
Kemp also spoke about several of his other initiatives. He said he wants the office to be on the cutting-edge of technology. For example, the public can use the Secretary of State’s website to to figure out polling locations and other individual voting information.
“We were one of the first states in the country to use the website for our military and overseas voters to be able to access an electronic ballot,” Kemp said.
Kemp’s office also investigates cases of voter fraud. Kemp he said he receives dozens of complaints and the office has established a voter fraud hotline, 877-725-9797. Citizens can also file complaints at http://www.sos.ga.gov/stopvoterfraud/
He said the number of new corporations registering in Georgia each month has increased to 7,377 per month in 2011 from 6,769 in 2010.
“Sometimes that’s misleading,” Kemp said. “You have people that get laid off from a big company or start a small business. It’s not a true story of how things are going, (but) I think it bodes well for us.”
BBA members responded well to his presentation.
Gerry Korzi said many people don’t think about all of the issues the Secretary of State’s office handles.
“I didn’t realize all the other fun stuff he was doing,” Korzi said.
Janet Arrington, another BBA member, said she was “very impressed,” particularly with the office’s commitment to weeding out voter fraud.
“I had no idea they were on top of watching out for duplicate ballots,” she said.
