WASHINGTON _ House Democrats are investigating allegations that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp attempted to suppress votes in Georgia in the 2018 elections, according to a letter from Chairman Elijah Cummings and Rep. Jamie Raskin of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Kemp, who won the race for governor in 2018 while he was the secretary of state, canceled voter registrations for more than 1.4 million people in Georgia. Scores of media outlets reported a lack of resources and long lines on Election Day at polling places in minority communities, causing civil rights groups to accuse Kemp and the GOP of intentionally suppressing votes.
Cummings and Raskin, both Maryland Democrats, requested that Kemp and the current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, hand over a trove of documents related to the decisions to purge voter rolls, place on hold registration applications for 53,000 Georgians in 2018 and other voting rights issues.
The committee is "particularly concerned by reports that Georgians faced unprecedented challenges with registering to vote and significant barriers to casting their votes" while Kemp was in office, including in the 2018 midterms, Cummings and Raskin wrote.
The Oversight Committee has the broad authority to conduct an investigation into "any matter ... at any time," according to House Rule X, the congressmen wrote.
