Secretary of State to ask General Assembly to give him the power to intervene in Fulton elections

ATLANTA — Georgia's been getting national attention for all of the wrong reasons following Tuesday’s primary election that left people waiting in line for hours to vote.

Channel 2 anchor Justin Farmer went to the state capital Wednesday to ask Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger what happened.

He told Farmer that 150 of Georgia’s 159 counties held problem-free elections on Tuesday.

All of the attention was focused on Fulton County, where people waited up to six hours in line, in some cases, to cast their vote.

Raffensperger is squarely pointing the finger at the county.

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“I would say the counties that struggled are Democratically controlled, not partisan, really comes down to competency. At the end of the day it's the county's responsibility to run elections at the county level.

Fulton County's director of registrations and elections, Richard Barron, is pushing back.

"I think he's the head election official in the state and he can't wash his hands of all the responsibility for this election,” Barron said,

Raffensperger says the state is highly disappointed in Fulton’s chronic issues. He cited problems as far back as 2012.

He told Farmer that the issues are so bad he's going to the General Assembly next week to get the legal authority to help Fulton get it right.

“Right now, the state doesn't have the authority to intervene and that's why we'll be working so state can intervene and fix management issues at the county level,” Raffensperger said.

“Whatever Secretary Raffensperger’s opinion is, it’s his opinion. It’s his opinion alone. He can say whatever he wants. I disagree with him,” Barron said.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger talks about issues at the polls Tuesday night From issues with equipment, lack of training and other problems plagued polling places across the metro.

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