Because this campaigned
gone differently than you.
Given what you know about your state.
In the firmaments.
A year ago as this campaign.
How? How is the campaign
different than you expected?
I just from day one, I believe
that most people were good. And I just
leaned into that,
and I've been out there talking
for a year and a half to people,
explaining what happened in
the fall election of 2020,
explained the Election Integrity Act,
and then taking me farther back,
talking about the 2018 race when
Stacey Abrams lost by 55,000 votes.
And I said voter suppression that she
alleged was never supported by the facts.
We had record registrations, record turnout.
Then the voter fraud narrative that we
had in 2020 wasn't supported by the facts.
And I said, really,
what happens is it really disrupts society.
It's not helpful.
But here with the facts and I just really
had fact based conversations with everyone,
I went to Rotary,
Kiwanis Chamber meetings,
Republican Party,
tea party in North Georgia,
but I would talk to anyone just
to share my story and then take
their questions and answer them.
I think that was really the best
method for them because they knew at
the end of the day that most people
are good and Georgians are wonderful.
What do supporters of Donald
Trump, when they see you tell
you? Well, they had their,
these concerns and and some of
them are still holding on to them.
I said, well, Sir or ma'am, you know,
and then I explain about these issues,
everyone that they raised and I know
that they're disappointed in the results.
I get that. But here what the facts are.
And so you just gently explain,
you know, that 28,000 people
skip the presidential race.
They didn't vote for anyone
and yet they voted down ballot,
that they weren't 10,000
dead people that voted.
There was only four.
And so I just give them facts,
but I try and do that with grace.
Because when people are hurting,
you have to really, you know,
be soft with your message.
You're not trying to, you know,
you're not trying to, you know,
make points.
You're just trying to give them information.
Like I said,
most people are good when you give them
the facts and they come to their own,
you know?
Conclusion that sometimes we go
to the football game and we get
disappointed on Friday night,
but you understand that's the point.
Total is and they walk the
home but they understand well,
we have a game next week and
we can come back and you know,
practice hard and hopefully
we win the next one.
Do
Democrats talk to you about supporting you?
Not really. I I guess that that's out there.
And I'm, I'm really gratified that
I really have built a broad based
coalition because in this office we do.
We're unique somewhat,
you could say, is because we touch
people's most precious right,
and that's the franchise to vote.
And I think they really appreciate that
there's a guy that will stand in the gap.
He'll do what's right.
He'll buck his party bosses and he'll make
sure we have fair and honest elections.
And my opponent, she can't say that,
you know, the Democrat Party has
bought 1.9 million of her ads.
She's beholden to Stacey Abrams.
And my, my people are supporting me are
just average people up and down the line.
Business owners, small,
you know, small town,
small town and entrepreneurs and
then just individual people that
send me money out of the blue.
But it's mostly all Georgia money
and just people that, you know,
want to contribute to our campaign.
But we won't match them dollar for dollar,
but doesn't matter.
We've got the people behind us and
I'm really gratified by that because.
I've been expecting and I've been
relying and I've been gratified
to learn that I was right.
Most people are good,
and I think that's the best message I
see sometimes you watch the Evening
News and it gets you disillusion
about what you see out there.
Yes.
But you know, you go to the local towns,
local cities, you know,
people are just working hard.
They're struggling with inflation,
they're struggling with gas prices,
but they're, they're hearts are good.
And I think the,
you know,
want to look for people that really
understand that my job is to follow the law,
follow the Constitution.
Do you
get the sense that Republicans are
ready to move on from Donald Trump?
And Are you ready to?
Well, I'm running my own race
based on my own merits and
based on my own principles.
And my principle is integrity,
character, honest civil discourse.
And I believe, to quote Reagan's kindness,
you can be a principled
conservative and still be kind.
And so I think that's there's
a war for kindness,
and I'm out there sharing the facts,
but with kindness.
Ready to move on from Donald Trump?
Well, I, I, I believe in the conservative
principles of the Republican Party.
You have to understand this
party was founded in 1850.
It was just a great,
noble idea that all men,
all people were created equal and
everyone deserved that franchise to vote.
And we're talking about individual
responsibility, individual opportunity.
And that's why it's just great
when you see people come here and
they're self-made in America.
They didn't have this opportunity
in other countries in the world.
They come here and they just
work hard and it's just,
you know, exciting to see people.
Warm up by the bootstraps,
don't speak.
And then we have systems in place
to have that.
So we have a strong educational system,
we have economic opportunity for
everyone and everyone has the chance to vote.
So we have fair and honest elections.
Is it reasonable to ask
you about abortion policy?
Well, that's not on the ballot because
this office has nothing to do with that.
But my position is clear.
And but at the end of the day,
what's really matters is that you
have someone in this office that
will fight hard every day for fair
and honest elections for everyone.
Make sure that we have, you know,
and we can streamline whatever we
can for professional licensing.
We have 550,000 people that
require professional license.
I'm a licensed structural engineer.
Licensed civil engineer.
A licensed general contractor and I
want to make sure that we can get people
their license as quick as possible,
you know,
help reduce those continuing
education hours that they have to
have because there's a cost involved.
And then make sure that our
corporations that you can renew your
corporation for up to three years.
So there's all it touches a lot of things,
but mostly helping people generate,
you know,
their personal wealth,
their personal income.
Does the Secretary of State's position
on abortion affect how the office
conducts professional licensing?
Absolutely not. You know,
that's not in our wheelhouse.
That's in other people's wheelhouse.
But mine is making sure
you have a fair and honest election.
We're getting licenses taken away if they
handle the new heartbeat law in a way that.
That, that. Maybe.
And maybe takes away licenses.
Yeah, that's not in our wheelhouse.
Our job is just to make sure
you have enough selections.
We license people, you know,
and you meet the qualifications,
educational qualifications.
I got my undergraduate degree in engineering,
had to work for four years.
They had to write a test.
Then I applied for my
professional license nurses.
They'll do the same.
Landscape architects will do that.
Electricians, plumbers.
You know,
we want to get people out there
so they can get out there in the
workforce and put food in the table.
And because of high inflation.
That's happened because of the
federal government and what
they're doing up there that's
been impacting all Georgians.
The polling
indicates you might be the most popular
Republican in the state.
What do you think about that?
We've retired at building a
broad based coalition. Alright,
let me ask you about Coffee County.
When did the Secretary of State's
office first know about Coffee County?
Ohh, very early on,
and we put investigators on it.
And then at some point there's our
our resources that we have only
go up to a certain point and we
reached out to the GBI because
they have additional resources,
technical resources that they can
really do a deep dive on some of the
things they have a wider purview.
We reached out to them and then as
we kept on digging deeper working
with the state election Board,
also the Attorney General's Office,
then there's been a a reach out to
Federal Investigative Office agency that has.
Even additional resources that
transcend our state borders.
But it's an ongoing investigation,
I will tell you that it's very serious
what they've I've alleged to do.
I don't want to go too far into that,
but I believe that if it is supported by
what we believe it will be supported by,
they should be prosecuted.
And these are criminal violations and
that usually means that people will
be behind bars at the end of the day.
This is not just paying a fine and also
the state of Georgia hasn't has incurred.
And we'll incur financial costs
because of what's been done to the
voting equipment and we therefore
want that equipment replaced at the
other people's cost, not at our cost.
And so we're proceeding on that.
You sent an investigator
into Coffee County in May of
2021 and the GBI didn't get called
in until more than a year later.
Yeah, what happened? In the interim, we
were doing our work, masticating,
digging deep, exactly what was going on,
but sometimes you reach that point
where you need additional power.
First of all, if you want to do subpoenas,
that would require the state election board.
But you have to understand,
for well over six months we didn't
have a chair of the state Election
board because the existing.
Here had been moved to another state
agency and so we had a vacancy there.
And so it took awhile to finally get an
acting chair that we could do this subpoena,
which was what we did with true
the vote to get that information.
And that's been stymied because
they're not providing that,
they're not being a cooperating
organization and that investigation.
So we were somewhat stymied on that and
then the GBI didn't have that hurdle,
so we reached out to them,
but also some of the resources
we needed are capabilities that
they do have because it's.
Criminal versus a process of elections.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit on Earth,
the surveillance video in Coffee County,
shouldn't your office have
been able to do that under the
well, they actually should
have released that sooner and
they were holding on to that.
They wanted, I guess,
some kind of a gotcha moment
playing on the legal side.
When you hear about potential illegality,
I think you have a responsibility
as a responsible American citizen
to give that to law enforcement
agencies instead of playing,
trying to play a political
gotcha moment game.
Should your office have gotten that video?
When you're opening investigation in 2021
rather than it emerging a few weeks ago,
well, that came out of a lawsuit that's
been going on since 2017 and that's
another matter that's under litigation.
So I'll let that go at that. Well,
I guess what I'm asking is.
I think the the question is,
did the Secretary of State's office
take the Coffee County issue seriously?
Wouldn't you have been able to
get this information months ago?
Well, we were given provided
information and now is it,
it appears to be apparent that
these people were not speaking
truthfully to our investigators.
All right.
Gabriel Sterling said in April of
this year that there were that
nothing happened in Coffee County.
Do you know why he said that?
Because it has, it appears to be
apparent that the people were not
providing truthful testimony as
part of that investigation process.
And it appears that testimony
was provided to a grand jury that
was not supported by the truth.
And I'll let it go at that because
it's an ongoing investigation. Right.
So do you does the does what
happened in Coffee County represent a
threat to this November's election?
No, that service were replaced
for that particular county,
but it does show that it is very
important that county election.
You can have a rogue actor.
That's what we had apparently down in.
Coffee County.
And so it's very important that
we are looking that when you swear
that oath to follow the state law,
follow the SBA regulations
and then also make sure.
That you're following the Constitution,
the state of Georgia and the
United States Constitution,
that you have people of integrity in
all these offices and when you find
that people don't have that integrity,
that they need to be replaced,
they need to be terminated.
And if there were violations,
they need to be prosecuted to
the fullest extent of the law.
If a bad actor wanted to undermine
the upcoming election, wouldn't they
do something exactly like they did
in they would attempt to do that.
But you have to also understand,
and I would hope all voters understand this,
that when you make your selections,
you know, on the ballot marking
device and it prints it out,
you can look in there and did you
vote for Mary or did you vote for Bob
for that particular race?
You get to look at your ballot,
then you walk it over to the
scanner and then you put that in the
scanner and it is where it is scanned
and then eventually it is tabulated.
If there's any question of what
happens with a ballot marking device,
you'll see it immediately.
So you can the voter can verify that
their vote was accurately counted.
So you've taken that out that that
could be a potential area of fraud.
Then when you go over to
the scanner and you scan it,
that's why you do audits and that's
what we do, eliminate testing.
And that's why one County Down
in South Georgia did their LNA
testing just a few days ago,
earlier in the week,
and other counties are doing
it all sorts of times.
And I we see when those reports are,
I know de Kalb County is doing theirs.
Absentee is on one day,
the early vote isn't another day.
And then the Election Day you know,
LNA testing is will be on the
third day by say all that is the
county's doing the L and a logic
and accuracy testing right now.
But also we're gonna follow that up
after the election with audits and
that means races can be audit any
race because you have a paper ballot
and that is the official ballot.
You can audit that race to
verify the account.
And that's what we did in 2020 and
many people don't realize that.
All 5,000,000 pieces of paper,
all 5,000,000 ballots.
Were hand recounted and you looked
at the human readable text,
who did you vote for President?
Donald J Trump,
Joseph R Biden or Joe Jorgensen, libertarian.
And when you do that and you
get the same result,
many of the counties had no vote.
Total differences when you
get the same result.
So as you got with the scanners,
it shows that the machines
did not flip the votes.
They actually recorded the results.
And I understand that people were
disappointed that on my side
of the aisle and I get that,
but the machines were verified that
they're accurate and also people
need to understand we just didn't buy
these things right off the shelf.
That goes through several years of
going through the United States
Election Assistance Commission.
The General Assembly put in that any
new machine that was going to be used,
any process,
any company had to have certified
machines from the United States
Election Assistance Commission.
We did that and then once we
got these machines,
we then went ahead and did our own testing,
our own in-house testing,
and then we after post election of 2020,
we send a sample size out with Pro V.
Alright, last question.
You're opposed to switching out
the computerized voting machines
with hand marked paper ballots.
Why are you so opposed
to that? Well, I think that Secretary
of State Kathy Cox made the best point
and she happened to be a Democrat.
But what she said is all during the 90s,
before we had electronic voting,
she said we were some counties down
in Bibb County and other parts we we
had people that didn't have the same
skill or same educational background
as you might have in an urban area.
That what they saw as they just had
sometimes 11 to 13% of overvotes undervotes,
you know, double counting rejected ballots,
people that were disenfranchised.
And she said as soon as we went
to the electronic machines,
the rate of disenfranchise went down
to a very low percentage because you
eliminated those overvotes and undervotes.
I don't want anyone to be disenfranchised.
And with a ballot marking device
which prints out you can look
exactly who you wanted,
but when you do a hand marked paper about it,
what happens if they mark something?
A little bit different.
And all of a sudden you have a team
politicians or a lawyers from each political
party looking at that and they're taking this
to court and trying to win a a court battle.
I think it's the battle
should be at the ballot box,
not at the courthouse.
And that's where it's really important
that you your vote will count.
It'll be recorded accurately.
And that's why I think Kathy Cox
spoke wisdom during the Safe
Commission about that specific issue.
And many of the Republicans
felt the same way.
They didn't want to have a
Bush vigor type of situation.
I think what people need to
understand when you win,
you win and you lose.
You lost that day,
but you can come back and run again in two
years or four years or six years,
whatever that term is.