Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, denies claims that Georgia’s “consent decree” makes it impossible to verify voter signatures.
Over the weekend, President Trump wrote on Twitter, “The Consent Decree …makes it impossible to check & match signatures on ballots and envelopes. They knew they were going to cheat. Must expose real signatures!”
The consent decree was signed in March, following a lawsuit by the Democratic Party. It was signed by the Georgia Secretary of State, with the approval of Republican Governor Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams, a Democrat.
It argued that minorities were disproportionately affected when they had their ballots rejected. It requires county officials to form a 3-person committee if anyone believes there’s a defective ballot signature. If the majority of the committee agrees that the signature doesn’t match, they can reject the ballot.
Raffensperger, a Republican, told AP that the consent decree doesn’t prevent election clerks from checking signatures. He said, not only is it possible, it is required by state law.
It came into focus last week when an attorney filed a lawsuit against Raffensperger. It claims he doesn’t have the authority to change the process for handling absentee ballots—only state legislatures and Congress can do that.
