City of South Fulton Chief Prosecutor and City Solicitor LaDawn Jones has come under fire for offering $50 off citations for individuals in exchange for them registering to vote ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
Giving money or anything else of value to have people register to vote is illegal, according to both state and federal election law, opening the door for an investigation into what would be a tricky case. Jones wasn’t shy about the ‘deal,’ posting about it on social media and defending her actions by saying that no one was forced to register, and she did not inquire into individuals’ political preferences or encourage voting for one party or the other. However it is no secret that South Fulton is heavily black and leans skews Democratic.
Welllllll we registered voters in City of South Fulton today. Everyone got $50 off their citation if they registered or confirmed their registration. #SouthFultonStrong🙅🏽♀️ https://t.co/uGqArjfk3g
— LaDawn LBJ Jones (@LaDawnLBJJones) October 10, 2018
The Georgia GOP naturally leapt into action in criticizing Jones, with Chairman John Watson saying “The California money Stacey Abrams is collecting isn’t enough; Democrats are now using city funds to pay for voter registration. This is a desperate and illegal effort to win in November.”
Election attorney Bryan Tyson.told Fox 5 that election laws can often be messy, but that the door was open for an investigation. “Under state and federal law, it is a felony. The reality is a prosecutor would have to look at the case and decide if they want to bring the case,” he said about the incident.
This controversy comes as part of a larger fight over the voter registration process, with Democrats demanding that Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp resign from his current role as Secretary of State for putting a hold on some 50,000 voter registration applications for failing to meet the state’s “exact match” standard. Nearly 70% of those applications belong to African Americans.
The Kemp campaign has retorted that voter registration numbers are at an all time high, and that voters currently ‘on hold’ will be able to sort out their status at the polls on voting day, or fill out provisional ballots.
