"US Elections Must Be Decided by US Citizens:" Raffensperger Applauds House Judiciary on Passage of SB368
Atlanta – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger applauds the House Judiciary Committee for taking action to ban foreign funding in state campaigns and elections, and requiring lobbyists and political consultants to register with the state regarding their work with foreign entities. Raffensperger emphasizes the critical need to address foreign interference in Georgia’s elections amid the crisis at the Southern border.
“With open borders, the number one issue facing Georgia’s elections is foreign interference in our campaigns,” said Raffensperger. “I applaud the House Judiciary Committee for passing SB368, banning foreign funding in elections and campaigns and ensuring that political consultants and lobbyists who are agents of foreign entities register and disclose their work to the state.”
Highlighting the imperative to safeguard the integrity of elections, Raffensperger stressed the need for legislation that bars foreign funding from influencing any aspect of Georgia's electoral process. The proposed regulations extend to campaigns for public office and ballot measures, with an additional stipulation requiring the state registration of American citizens engaged in lobbying or consulting for foreign governments, agencies, political parties, or organizations.
“Foreign actors shouldn’t be allowed to use dark money or American citizens as willing cut-outs to avoid disclosure of their goals and intentions in influencing the American political system,” said Raffensperger. “We need transparency from state lobbyists and political consultants who are acting as foreign agents.”
Raffensperger acknowledged that public confidence in the election process is paramount to the democratic process. He emphasized the importance of extending that trust to campaign finance, ensuring transparency to make voters aware of any potential foreign interference in elections.
“Most people trust our elections because we’ve been transparent. We’ve worked very hard to build public trust in those processes,” said Raffensperger. “We need to extend that same trust to the process of campaign finance and make sure that if there is any foreign interference in elections, voters are aware of it.”
###
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 ranked #1 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.