As Early Voting Starts, a Talk with Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp on Photo ID and Deadlines

O’Hayer: The state has just extended the deadline for military and overseas voters to get their ballots in for any run-offs that might happen on August 21^st, and I think those are just for congressional run-offs, is that correct?

Kemp: Right, it applies to the federal elections and congressional districts 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, and 12.

O’Hayer: This was the result of a federal court injunction. What was that about?

Kemp: You know, unfortunately, the Department of Justice came to us while we were in the middle of our primary election. We had just already sent out military ballots, and they came and said, “Look, we have a concern about run-off.” I don’t know why they didn’t come to us, you know, any time over the last three election cycles when we’ve had the same process. Regardless of that, there is an injunction. We’re gonna be working to fulfill our role in that and make sure that we continue to do the things that we’ve done over the last two-and-half years to make sure our military and overseas ballots are counted to and really be a leader in the country in doing that.

O’Hayer: Turning to the survey that was published by the Associated Press, the bottom line, if you will, is that states with tough voter ID laws are throwing out a lot of the provisional ballots that people cast when they don’t have their photo IDs because a lot of them don’t come back. The concern that has been raised is that we’re actually turning away more legitimate voters than we’re preventing bogus voters. How do you respond to that?

Kemp: Well, I don’t really see it that way. You know, I think it’s hard to count how many folks we’re turning away or how many people that we’re keeping from committing voter fraud in those instances. For anyone who doesn’t have a photo ID in Georgia, they can vote an absentee ballot without having a photo ID. So we’ve got a tremendous opportunity for everyone to be able to cast their ballot here. You know, a lot of these same people say, “Well, you’re suppressing minority participation,” and that’s just not the case. You know, we’ve increased minority participation since we’ve had photo ID laws in place.

O’Hayer: Couldn’t it be argued that that minority participation, particularly in 2008, was already going to be high because, in part, of the candidacy of then-senator Obama, and couldn it be argued that it might’ve been even greater without the photo ID law?

Kemp: I would argue that having the photo ID law in place certainly didn’t keep minorities from going out and voting because they had a photo ID or getting a free photo ID that we provide here in the state of Georgia. I think the fact of the matter is, you know, when you have to go to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and show a photo ID to get through security, that people think it’s pretty reasonable to show one at the polls to go vote, and it’s not a burden to do so.

O’Hayer: On the other hand, though, there is no photo ID requirement for absentee voting by mail, so doesn’t that simply leave a venue open for someone to commit voter fraud if they wanted to?

Kemp: Well, in some ways, I think you could say that. That’s certainly something that I have looked and am continuing to look to see if there’s more that we can do, but we have implemented a triple-signature check on our absentee ballots, which helps provide security for that absentee ballot.

O’Hayer: The argument has been made that absentee ballot by mail is something that is used more often or at least proportionally more by potential GOP voters and that the photo ID requirement potentially affects more what one might assume would be democratic voters. Is there resistance in the GOP to toughening the voter by mail requirements?

Kemp: None that I’m aware of. I would certainly be willing to look at that. We do see a fair amount of absentee ballot fraud. It’s something that concerns me, and something that, quite honestly, our investigative division works on and keeps an eye out on during the elections process. It’s one of the reasons we created our “Stop Voter Fraud” website and our hotline number so if anybody sees something improper going on during the election process, they can report that to our law enforcement division here in the Secretary of State’s office and we’ll look into that complaint.

O’Hayer: Brian Kemp is our Secretary of State. He is a Republican. Secretary Kemp, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

Kemp: Thanks for having me, Denis. Have a good day.