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Stricter punishments for election violations
As officials begin to set their sights on the 2024 Presidential Election, Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is calling for much harsher punishments for those attempting to meddle in state elections. FOX 5's Joi Dukes spoke to a democratic senator who says there's more to be considered in securing state elections.
ATLANTA - Some would say free and fair elections are the bedrock of American democracy. That bedrock was shaken in a tense 2020 presidential election that complicated the landscape of Georgia politics.
As officials begin to set their sights on the 2024 presidential election, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is calling on state lawmakers to put stricter punishments in place for those attempting to meddle in state elections.
"We have a very unique political culture here because of the stand that some state republicans took when Donald Trump claimed you can’t trust the election results," Democratic State Senator Josh McLaurin told FOX 5.
Those false claims from then-President Donald Trump and his allies didn’t hold up in court, but they have had a lasting effect on election security in Georgia.
Last week, Raffensperger urged lawmakers to increase the minimum fine for violators of state election code from $10,000 to $1-million, and minimum jail time from one year to 10 years.
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"On the face of the proposal, I see the logic in it and I think that I and even other Democratic lawmakers would be open to it especially if it would deter bad actors from trying to access our systems and change the results," McLaurin stated.
But the Georgia Democrat said that’s just one aspect of what needs to be addressed—citing a 2022 report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that identified vulnerabilities in the Dominion Voting Machine software that’s used statewide.
"Obviously, in Coffee County, we had a situation where people were able to access systems unlawfully. That's something we want to make sure absolutely doesn’t happen as we’re preparing for the 2024 presidential election," he explained.
State election officials received criticism on a decision to wait until next year to update the software.
Last month, Raffenspergers’ Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling defended the move.
"When balancing the risks, it is the safer thing to use the very secure system we have now with all of the processes and procedures we have. It was secure in 2020, it was secure in 2022, it will be secure in 2024," Sterling said.
McLaurin told FOX 5 while lawmakers wait to reconvene in January, the focus should be on what can be done right now.
"For the most part, I think our election systems are trustworthy, and we need to have confidence in valid election results. With that being said, I know Democrats like myself are going to be calling on Secretary Raffensperger to make sure that any vulnerabilities in those election systems are patched."