Democratic Party of Georgia Provides Additional Context In Response To Brian Kemp’s Politically Motivated Charges

ATLANTA — Today, Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Rebecca DeHart issued the following statement:

“Brian Kemp has a long and well documented history of failing to protect the security of Georgia’s elections system. In 2016, Kemp was one of the only secretaries of state in the country to refuse help from the Department of Homeland Security to improve election security, leaving Georgians vulnerable to foreign cyber attacks. On two occasions, Kemp’s office leaked personal information including the social security numbers of six million Georgians, forcing Georgia taxpayers to foot the bill for credit monitoring because Brian Kemp’s office made Georgians vulnerable to identity theft.

Georgians of all political stripes are very concerned about election security and the security of Georgians’ personal information. The Democratic Party of Georgia shares that concern, but we did not create, discover, or attempt to take advantage of the deeply vulnerable system used by the Secretary of State’s office.

As Kemp aims to deflect blame for his failures, the questions everyone must be asking is: Why was the system vulnerable in the first place? Why has Brian Kemp still not taken basic steps to secure Georgians’ personal information?

In the meantime, Brian Kemp’s office is refusing to provide daily absentee ballot and provisional ballot data, information which — unlike Georgians’ Social Security numbers — is something the Secretary of State’s office must actually make available to the public.

Our message to Georgia voters remains the same: the best way to beat voter suppression is to vote.”

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