ATLANTA — Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced today that Gov. Brian Kemp has agreed to his request for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist in ongoing investigations related to the 2020 General Election.

“I have assured Georgians throughout this process that I will investigate every credible allegation that is brought to my office, and I appreciate the leadership and resources that Gov. Kemp is providing,” Raffensperger said. “The governor and I are committed to following every lead, and the expertise, experience and manpower provided by the GBI will help us move more quickly through a process where time is of the essence. We will stop at nothing to guarantee that all Georgians can have faith in the integrity of our election. At this point, my office has found no evidence of widespread fraud, and three recounts — including a hand recount of paper ballots that voters read and approved before scanning — have returned the same result, but we will follow the evidence where it takes us and we will adhere to the law.”

Raffensperger requested the additional assistance on Friday, and Kemp agreed quickly the same day.

“Earlier this week, Secretary Raffensperger announced that his office had approximately 250 open investigations related to the 2020 General Election,” Kemp said. “In order for Georgians to receive a timely conclusion to these important investigations, I thank the secretary for formally requesting Georgia Bureau of Investigation assistance in order to provide additional manpower and resources. Highly qualified GBI personnel will work alongside law enforcement officers within the Secretary of State’s Office to ensure that Georgia’s election law are followed and the investigations are completed as soon as appropriate.”

Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 16 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record primary turnout in 2020, with over 1.1 million absentee by mail voters and over 1.2 million in-person voters utilizing Georgia’s new, secure, paper ballot voting system.