Kemp: Voter suppression story ‘manufactured’

Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Republican gubernatorial candidate, shot back Sunday at critics who say he and his office are suppressing minority voter turnout.

The Associated Press reported recently that more than 53,000 Georgia voters, most of whom are black, have had their registrations placed on hold because of some kind of mismatch with a driver's license or Social Security information. Kemp stopped by Valdosta Sunday afternoon and called the story a "manufactured headline."

He said his office is only following a state law passed in 2017 known as the "exact match" law. It requires information on a voter's registration application to exactly match information on file with the Georgia driver's license agency or the Social Security Administration.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Campaign Legal Center sent Kemp's office a letter stating the state law violates the National Voter Registration Act. The letter states the matching protocol has an extraordinarily high error rate, resulting in the disenfranchisement of legitimate, eligible Georgians.

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