Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, the state elections chief who has faced accusations of voter suppression, ran into a voting snafu on Tuesday afternoon.
While voting at his polling location, Kemp was initially turned away because his voter card was deemed “invalid.” He voted after getting another card, according to Atlanta’s WSB-TV, which followed the candidate throughout the day Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Kemp’s office confirmed the issue, saying a poll worker may have incorrectly programmed the electronic card used to access the voting machine. The slip-up was resolved within 15 seconds, she said.
Kemp, in a close race against Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams, has a controversial record on voting rights, and his office has been accused of disenfranchising voters, particularly African-Americans.
He has resisted calls to resign as secretary of state while running his gubernatorial campaign to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
On Tuesday, he again said he would not step down.
“No, not at all,” Kemp told WSB. “We’ve been fighting the whole time, we’ve stayed on the offense, we’ve been moving ahead, and you can’t dwell on things in politics, we just grind it out every day, whether it was a good day or a bad day,”
In a statement, Kemp’s office said that he and “Georgia’s election workforce are committed to secure, accessible, and fair elections for all voters.”
Voters in the state, turning out at record rates, reported long lines and broken machines throughout the day on Tuesday.