Lt. Gov. Duncan: Parts of Georgia Voter Law ‘Insensitive and Not Timely’

Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) said Monday on CNN’s “OutFront” that the changes of the role of the secretary of state and “water and food” provision in the Georgia voting law were “insensitive and not timely.”

Burnett said, “One thing that Stacey Abrams raised was the issue of the legislature. On this I want to ask you because the law removes the Secretary of State as chairman of the Board of Elections. We all remember  Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He’s one of the guys who stood up to Trump and said no, 6,000 dead people did not vote, and this did not happen. He refused to overturn the state’s election results. But in the legislature, which is now going to get that authority, at least six state legislators called for a special session to overturn the results of the 2020 election. And they, in this law, have the power to appoint the majority of the election board. So are you worried about this? That the law gives the legislature too much power?”

Duncan said, “Yeah. I had spoken as loud as I possibly could against trying to go to a special session to overturn. I think I did it several times. I am also not supportive of taking punitive steps against Brad Raffensberger, who did nothing wrong except for becoming the president’s scapegoat — the former president’s scapegoat — in this situation. I thought that was a punitive move that didn’t necessarily make any difference. But look, there is a number of things in this bill that I think are common-sense ideas and some that I didn’t necessarily think was the right time to do it.”

He added, “This is a timing issue, too. Look, there’s other states that have more cumbersome election laws than we do, but it’s just the timing of this. It would be like a professional sports team being on a long losing streak and the next day raising their ticket prices. It just doesn’t sound and feel like the right timing on some of these things.”

Burnett asked, “Which is the thing that you found most problematic in the bill, Lieutenant Governor?”

Duncan said, “For me, it was the steps around Brad Raffensperger and the changing of getting him off the elections board. And secondly, there’s two sides to the water and food in line and the technicalities of it. I just thought the timing was insensitive and not timely.”

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