In Georgia’s secretary of state primary, two voter suppression backers advance to GOP runoff

By Brentin Mock

PERRY, GA - SEPTEMBER 25: Vernon Jones, Georgia gubernatorial candidate, speaks to a crowd at a rally featuring former US President Donald Trump on September 25, 2021 in Perry, Georgia. Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, Georgia Secretary of State candidate Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), and Georgia Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidate State Sen. Burt Jones (R-GA) also appeared as guests at the rally. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

NBC News has projected that Trump ally Vernon Jones and state Rep. Tim Fleming (R) appear headed to a runoff in Georgia’s Republican secretary of state primary.

Jones is on the record for saying the 2020 election was stolen, while Fleming has said there were “irregularities.” Both, meanwhile, back voter suppression policies. Now, the two men will compete to be the GOP nominee for the state’s next chief election official. 

The next secretary of state will succeed Brad Raffensperger (R), perhaps best known for his role in defying Trump’s demands to help overturn the state’s 2020 election results that went to Joe Biden.

However, Jones — a former Democrat, who now casts himself as a MAGA Republican — has said he stands with those who believe there was election fraud in 2020. 

During a recent debate, he questioned the reality that there was no widespread fraud in that election, saying, “Well, people want to know how wide was the wide?”

Fleming campaigned on stricter voter ID laws, deporting “any illegals attempting to vote in Georgia,” and making “it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.” 

There is no evidence that citizens or noncitizens have committed meaningful election fraud in the state. 

The next secretary of state will be tasked with enforcing a new system for voters to cast ballots, after the the current system of touchscreen machines and QR code receipts was deemed illegal. 

The chief election official will also have to contend with enforcing rules around access to election hubs, polling places and vote-counting centers. This has become an increasingly frustrating issue for election officials because amateur poll watchers — many of whom are election conspiracists — have grown more aggressive in their demands to observe the ballot counting process.