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The ADVANCE, July 26, 2023/Page 3A
Raffensperger
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger traveled to
rural Georgia for a breakfast
event on July 21, that was
jointly sponsored by the
Greater Vidalia Chamber,
Toombs County Develop
ment Authority, Vidalia
Kiwanis Club, and Vidalia
Rotary Club, to address
concerns about elections,
professional licensing, and
financial literacy and civics
classes for high schoolers.
Raffensperger began
by explaining his affinity for
small businesses. “I loved
what one of our former
presidents said back in the
1920s. He said that Ameri
ca’s business is business. He
said that all he wanted to
do was talk about business,
then go home around 2 p.m.
and call it a day. He believed
in limited government, but
also empowering individu
als to build the best futures
they could for themselves
and their families while also
creating jobs for their fel
low Americans. It’s really
important.”
The Secretary of State
went on to explain that the
business of his office is to
oversee elections, profes
sional licensing, corpora
tions, charities, and high
school financial literacy
and civics education, all of
which have an effect on the
future of small businesses.
Regarding elections,
Raffensperger said, “When
people think about the
Secretary of State’s office,
I know most people think
that we have something to
do with elections. It’s hard
not to, because you think
about what happened in
2018 when one of the can
didates running for gov
ernor lost by 55,000 votes
and did not concede. It
took about four and a half
years and about 12 lawsuits
that we pushed back on and
won every single count.
Then, we had the 2020 race,
and we got it from the other
side. So, we’ve been push-
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Rolls Through Rural Georgia
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORTER - During an event on July 21, Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger shared his support for small businesses and explained that many of the
areas that he oversees affect small business owners.
ing back on these kinds of
issues since day one.
“I want to give you
- first of all - confidence in
the election process. It is se
cure, it is accurate, it is fair,
and it is accessible. If you re
ally have a dog in the hunt,
and you really care who is
elected next year, I encour
age you now to get involved
in that race and make sure
you get people out to vote
so you aren’t disappointed,”
he added.
According to Raffens
perger, there was a great
difference in the number
of people that voted for the
presidential election and
those that voted for other
offices in the 2020 election.
“When we started rolling
out the new machines in
2020, we were going to have
a new verifiable paper ballot
system. I said I knew how
polarized America is - that
half the people are going to
be happy with the results,
and the other half would
not be - but we wanted
people to have confidence
in the process. So that’s why
we went with a verifiable pa
per ballot system so that we
could hand recount 100%
of the ballots if we needed
to,” he stated.
“After the 2020 race,
we actually recounted all 5
million ballots of the presi
dential race. We got virtu
ally the same results. Briefly
stated, the reason that Presi
dent Trump came up short
[in Georgia] that many
people are not aware of is
because 28,000 skipped
the presidential race - they
didn’t vote for anyone on
the ballot, and yet, they
voted for other races down
below. They voted for U.S.
Senate, a state representa
tive, a state senator, county
commissioner - that’s why
you saw that your state
representatives typically
got 5-6% higher totals than
President Trump did.”
Raffensperger also
shared that his office over
saw professional licensing,
corporations, and charities.
In his work in professional
licensing, Raffensperger
said that he had learned that
the state of Georgia - he felt
- licenses too much. “We
have 140 different licenses
and 40 different boards.
But I do think that some
things should be licensed. I
think that nurses should be
licensed because we’re talk
ing about public health and
public safety. Engineers def
initely should be licensed
because your structural en
gineers must design your
building to code so that if
you have a hurricane, if you
have a tornado, it is going to
withstand anything that na
ture throws its way. I think
that’s about public safety,”
he shared. ’’That’s why, this
year, we formed the Geor
gia Licensing Reform Com
mission. It is a bipartisan
commission.”
This new reform com
mission is made up of four
state representatives - two
Republicans and two Dem
ocrats, four state senators,
and three board members
that have been on state li
censing boards for over 10
years. Raffensperger also
said that the Georgia, Sa
vannah, and Metropolitan
Atlanta Chambers of Com
merce have been contacted
to gain business leaders’
perspectives on the issue.
Among those named
to this Commission is Dis
trict 156 State Representa
tive Leesa Hagan of Lyons.
“We’re really grateful that
one of the Board members
that we have on that board
is Representative Hagan,”
Raffensperger emphasized.
“So we’re bringing her on
board because she is going
to be speaking, we think,
not just for her political
viewpoints, but she’s going
to speak to communities
across this entire region.”
The group will hold
its next meeting in Athens,
but Macon and Savannah
are also in the target list for
meeting locations. Raffens
perger encouraged the pub
lic to contact his office with
their perspective and opin-
Please see Raffensperger
page 11A
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