ATLANTA, Ga. — Control of Georgia elections after Brad Raffensperger leaves office is shaping up as a fight over mail ballots, county resources and how closely the next secretary of state should follow President Donald Trump.
Republican state Rep. Tim Fleming is matched against Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds, a lawyer who formerly sat as a Fulton County judge. Advance voting for the Nov. 3 contest is already open across the state.
During an Atlanta Press Club forum on Oct. 12, Brown Reynolds framed the job as a firewall against Trump-backed election overhauls. She told the audience voters would be picking someone with a courtroom and law-office record of following statutes, and she linked Fleming to the president again and again.
Fleming refused to revisit 2020 on that October stage. He said his focus is keeping Georgia elections secure, fair, transparent and trusted from this point forward. In a May runoff debate he had stressed his long support for Trump, and he has previously talked about irregularities in the 2020 count.
On absentee voting, Fleming wants lawmakers and the next secretary to narrow who may use mail ballots, arguing most fraud risk lives there and that healthy voters should use Georgia long advance-voting calendar in person. Brown Reynolds criticized a Trump order that tried to curb mail voting nationwide and said safety and access can move together if counties get help instead of federal interference.
Fleming once served as deputy secretary of state and later as chief of staff when Brian Kemp won his first term as governor. Brown Reynolds argues Republican rule changes have already made voting harder by removing drop boxes and shrinking windows. Whoever wins will supervise statewide elections through the next term and manage the relationship with 159 county boards.
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