Gabrielle WareFormer president and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter is calling for Georgia's secretary of state, Republican Brian Kemp, to resign.
Kemp is responsible for overseeing the state's elections, and he's also currently running for governor. Carter's request comes amid accusations Kemp is trying to suppress the minority vote.
In a letter to Kemp obtained by The Associated Press, Carter wrote: "You are now overseeing the election in which you are a candidate. This runs counter to the most fundamental principle of democratic elections — that the electoral process be managed by an independent and impartial election authority."
Kemp has said he would not recuse himself in the event of a election recount because Georgia has "a very competent elections team to oversee that process." He also said in a statement that, in part due to his office's actions, "At no time in the history has it been easier to register to vote in Georgia than it is right now."
Kemp is in a tight race with Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams also asked Kemp to step down following reports in mid-October that over 53,000 voter registrations, mostly belonging to black voters, had been put on hold by his office.
Additional reporting by Newsy affiliate CNN.
