Groundhog Day Returns, Highlighting Raffensperger’s Five-Point Plan for Election Reform

Atlanta - Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says voters deserve better than a rerun of the same election arguments every election cycle, and calls on elected officials to help move the debate forward. With Georgia’s election results confirmed repeatedly through audits, recounts, and court review, Raffensperger is urging lawmakers to focus on passing laws that strengthen security, transparency, and public confidence nationwide instead of falling prey to recycled accusations.

“The path forward is through national reform, not repetition of old arguments that don’t add up,” says Raffensperger. “I urge lawmakers to focus on strengthening state administration of elections rather than rehashing the same outdated claims or worse - moving to federalize a core function of state government.”

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is renewing his call for Congress to act on meaningful federal election reform by adopting the proven, commonsense practices already in place in Georgia. Georgia has demonstrated that it is possible to protect ballot access while strengthening election security, transparency, and voter confidence. The Georgia Plan outlines practical reforms that would modernize federal election law, including stronger citizenship verification tools, clear national standards for election integrity, and safeguards that ensure only eligible voters cast ballots.

“Georgia has shown that you don’t have to choose between access and security -  you can and must have both,” Raffensperger said. “It’s time for Congress to move beyond rhetoric and implement reforms that reflect what is already working.”

 The Georgia Plan reflects lessons learned from years of running high-turnout, high-scrutiny elections:

National Real ID for all federal races and all forms of voting

Raffensperger has also recently called for Georgia's General Assembly to pass Real ID for all forms of voting in state elections. Raffensperger is now calling for its use in all federal elections as well. If it's good enough for the TSA, it's good enough for voting. 

Citizenship Verification

Georgia has developed a seamless method to verify citizenship through coordination with the Department of Driver Services. Raffensperger is urging Congress to expand verification tools nationwide and require citizenship verification for federal elections. He also supports a constitutional amendment to prohibit non-citizen voting in federal elections - reinforcing the principle that American elections are decided by American citizens.

Nationwide Ban on Ballot Harvesting

To prevent vote buying and improper inducement, Raffensperger supports a nationwide ban on ballot harvesting to protect the direct relationship between voters and their ballots.

Quick and Accurate Reporting, Confirmed by Audits

Except for military and overseas voters, ballots should be received by Election Day. Results should be reported quickly and then verified through uniform, nationwide post-election audits.

Clean Voter Lists

Raffensperger also called for modernizing the National Voter Registration Act to allow states to maintain accurate voter rolls closer to Election Day using reliable, high-quality data.

“Every election brings the same questions,” Raffensperger said. “Our answer shouldn’t change - follow the law, verify the voters, audit the results, and improve the system where we can.”

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Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 17 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record turnout in 2020, and 2022. 2022 achieved the largest single day of in-person early voting turnout in Georgia midterm history utilizing Georgia’s secure, paper ballot voting system. Most recently, Georgia received top rankings for Election Integrity by the Heritage Foundation, a top ranking for Voter Accessibility by the Center for Election Innovation & Research and tied for number one in Election Administration by the Bipartisan Policy Center.