Record Turnout, Voter Purges Headline Governor's Race This Week

ATLANTA, GA -- It's America's most watched governor's race, as Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams are running for Georgia's top statewide office. Abrams is seeking to become the nation's first African-American female governor in history, while Kemp is aiming to maintain the GOP's stronghold on the office that it's enjoyed since 2002. National Democrats also hope that Georgia will become a swing state, as the nation's midterm elections are widely being seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump's controversial White House administration.

From now until Election Day, your local Patch will be offering the most comprehensive and thorough election coverage of the governor's race and all of the other local races, issues and referendums that matter to you.

Here's a look at last week's developments in Georgia's nationally watched races:

Voter Purges: What Georgians Heading To The Polls Need To Know

Charges of voter suppression have been levied in the governor's race in Georgia in recent weeks, pitting the secretary of state and GOP candidate Brian Kemp against critics, including his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams, who say that he's using his perch as the chief election official to benefit his own candidacy. The race, which the Cook Political Report currently lists as a toss-up, has received national attention. The controversy has raised questions about whether some Georgians will be turned away at the polls. Here's what's happened so far, and what voters need to know. Read more here.

Kemp, Abrams Tied In Nation's Most Watched Governor's Race

Another new poll in Georgia's nationally watched governor's race continue to show the race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp to be a virtual tie. The Reuters/Ipsos/University of Virginia Center for Politics poll, released Wednesday, shows Kemp leading Abrams 47 percent to 46 percent among likely voters. Libertarian Ted Metz is currently polling at 2 percent among likely voters, with 4 percent undecided. Other recent polls also show a statistical tie in the race. Read more here.

Group Suing Kemp, Gwinnett Elections Board Over Ballot Rejections

The Coalition for Good Governance is suing the Secretary of State Brian Kemp, each member of the state's Board of Elections and each member of Gwinnett County's board of elections over how mail-in absentee ballots are handled. The Coalition, made up of five Georgia voters, filed the lawsuit Tuesday to halt the excessive rejection of mail ballots because of voters' innocent errors and discrepancies on mail ballot paperwork. Some counties have unacceptably high rejections of mail ballot applications and mail ballots because of small technicalities such as a voter signing the ballot envelope on the wrong line or writing the current date rather than the date of birth.

Read more here.

GA Black Caucus To Hold News Conference On Gwinnett Voting Issues

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus held a press conference this week to discuss recent issues with absentee ballots in Gwinnett County. "Gwinnett County limited early voting locations during the 2008 presidential election," said State Rep. Sandra Scott. "In another example of voter suppression, early this year the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners postponed the MARTA vote until March 2019, instead of putting the referendum on the ballot during the General Election this November with the other referendum items for voters to decide on such as the brunch bill. These instances of voter suppression in Gwinnett County must come to an end."

Read more here.

State Lawmaker-Elect Buys BrianKemp.com From California Democrat

A California Democrat and Stacey Abrams supporter named Brian Kemp had been using his website, BrianKemp.com, to forward to StaceyAbrams.com. That was, until last week, when a state lawmaker-elect in Georgia, Colton Moore, purchased the domain for an undisclosed sum. Both Abrams and Kemp are locked in a virtual tie in the race for Georgia governor, an election that has made national headlines.

Read more here.

Early Voting Headlines

• Early In-Person Voting Soars By 177 Percent In DeKalb County
• Early In-Person Voting Soars By 226 Percent In Cobb County
• 10K+ Ballots Cast on First Day of Early Voting in Fulton County
• More Than 2,500 Vote Early In Bartow County
• Early In-Person Voting Begins Monday, Oct. 15, In Atlanta

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