Georgia’s Secretary of State issues warning to groups helping ‘illegal voters' during runoff

‘We will catch you. We prosecute.’

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger issued a warning to groups he says are helping people move to Georgia solely for the purpose of voting in the January Senate runoffs elections.

Raffensperger said that groups that finance or organize such efforts are involved in conspiracy to commit voter fraud and could be charged under Georgia’s Racketeering Conspiracy laws.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Election 2020]

“Make no mistake about it, I will seek to prosecute those who try to undermine our elections to the fullest extent of the law,” said Raffensperger. “The integrity of our elections is paramount. Outside groups who seek to interfere with democracy in Georgia should be forewarned that the consequences will be severe.”

Raffensperger’s office emphasizes that to vote in Georgia, you need to be “a resident of this state and of the county or municipality in which he or she seeks to vote.”

Raffensperger added that, “the residence of any person shall be held to be in that place in which such person’s habitation is fixed, without any present intention of removing therefrom.” The Secretary of the State’s office said this would include individuals who move to Georgia solely for the sake of casting a ballot in an election with no intention of remaining in the state.

Channel 2 Action News hasn’t found any cases of activists groups helping people move to Georgia to vote in the runoffs.

Georgia is in the middle of a recount of the presidential election. Teams across the state are counting, by hand, nearly 5 million votes.

Election officials have until this Wednesday at midnight to finish the audit.

GEORGIA VOTER GUIDE:

• Key Dates for 2020 Runoff Elections in Georgia
• These are the 7 races that are in a runoff in Georgia
• Did you know? You can still register to vote in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs
• How to vote by absentee ballot for Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff elections

Cox Media Group