DNC-backed Lawfare Complicates Kennedy’s Ballot Access Drive in Georgia

By Melissa Orrison, The Kennedy Beacon

On July 10, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign announced it had submitted the required number of signatures needed to gain ballot access in Georgia. Petitioning began January 11 and 7,500 signatures were required. Team Kennedy handed in 21,000 signatures, almost three times the number required.

Unfortunately, the certification process has been hampered by Democratic National Committee-backed lawfare and other partisan efforts. 

The election code in Georgia allowed only a three-day window for legal challenges, due on July 12. That very day, Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that national and Georgia Democrats have initiated a legal challenge to ballot access for independents Kennedy and Cornel West, as well as Jill Stein of the Green Party and Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

As predicted, the Democrats had their cases ready to file and met the July 12 deadline.

These actions are the latest attempt by Democrats to take away voters’ options. They reveal the party’s fear that Biden cannot win independent votes. 

Recent partisan legislation, along with a history of alleged voting fraud, further complicates the political landscape in this battleground state.

Georgia Election Law Changes 

Georgia state law previously required signatures of 1% of registered voters, equal to about 70,000 signatures. The state’s current ballot access law was established in part by Green Party of Ga. v. Kemp (2016), in which a US district court ruled that the petitioning requirements for presidential candidates were “burdensome and onerous” and that 7,500 signatures – about 0.0009% of currently registered Georgia voters – are sufficient. The Georgia Secretary of State’s Election Data Hub estimates that there are just over 8 million registered voters in Georgia, 7,062,283 of whom are active voters. 

Six months before the 2024 election, Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, approved significant legislation that will ease the process for securing ballot access for minor parties. However, Georgia Senate Bill 189 provides ballot access only for third-party candidates who have already qualified for the ballots of 20 other US states or territories. The bill’s language does not include independent candidates, so it may be considered biased against candidates running without a party’s backing. Political parties are not mentioned in the US Constitution, and candidates are not required by law to be members of a party to run for office.

Georgia has 16 electoral votes at stake and is often described as a battleground state, as previous election lawsuits indicate. Along with the updated requirements for minor parties, Senate Bill 189 also allows state residents to challenge a voter’s qualification, if they can provide evidence that the voter is deceased, has voted in another jurisdiction, has obtained a homestead exemption on their taxes, or is registered to cast their ballot from a nonresidential address. QR codes are currently used in Georgia for vote-counting purposes, but the bill calls for these to be eliminated by 2026. The bill also requires absentee ballots to be tabulated and reported one hour after polls close. 

Voters can also be taken off the rolls within 45 days of an election; previously, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 barred removal of voters from the rolls within 90 days of an election. Although critics of the recent Georgia legislation say the changes suppress voters, supporters claim they remove opportunities for fraud and ensure a legitimate election. 

In addition to SB 189, Governor Kemp signed HB 974, calling for election transparency, into law this May. It will now be possible for the public to view a database of scanned ballots that have personal identifying information removed. Digital images of scanned ballots will be available by 5 p.m. on the second Friday after the election. These are slated to be available for the 2024 presidential election.

Finally, HB 1207, also passed in May, reduces the number of voting machines and requires poll workers to be US citizens. The new number of voting machines will be one per 250 voters. The reduced number of voting machines is interpreted as voter suppression by critics of the new legislation.

Election Fraud and Voter Fraud Problems in Georgia

Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU, has threatened to sue Governor Kemp, stating that these are unfair requirements for election workers, voters, and unhoused citizens. However, these changes to Georgia election law have resulted, as The Kennedy Beacon reported, from widespread allegations of fraud and missing votes in the 2020 election. Those allegations triggered former president Trump’s infamous call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking for a recount in hopes that it might result in more votes for him. In addition, Stacey Abrams has contended that there were irregularities and voter suppression in the 2018 gubernatorial election, in which she was the Democratic Party’s nominee.

Although Kennedy and Shanahan have made great strides toward being on the ballot in all 50 states, recent changes to Georgia law are designed to help those already backed by a party. SB 189, in particular, is ripe for legal challenge due to its exclusion of independents.

Melissa Orrison is a journalist who co-presented “The Kennedy Tragedies Through a Risk Management Lens” at the In2Risk 2022 conference in San Francisco. She has also worked in higher education and tourism. She lives in Georgia with her husband and son.