Georgia NAACP President Resigns From Election Task Force Created By Secretary of State

The president of the Georgia chapter of the NAACP has resigned from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s bipartisan election task force.

Rev. James Woodall told the Atlanta Journal Constitution Wednesday that the operation is “a farce,” and that he is leaving the task force because he felt it has changed nothing since it was put together in October.

Raffensperger, who has been largely blamed for Trump’s election loss in the state and has faced repeated calls to resign, hoped to “solicit the task force members for innovative ideas to build on the nation leading ballot access options,” according to Yahoo News.

The task force included members of both political parties, but according to the reverend, Raffensperger is trying to play both sides. “It’s all for show,” Woodall told the AJC.

Woodall took issue with Raffensperger ‘s comments following a judge’s decision to stop election officials from purging voter rolls in two Georgia counties that Biden overwhelmingly won in November.

In a statement, Raffensperger said the ruling undermined the rule of law in the state. The judge who ordered the ruling was the sister of voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, which has drawn the ire of Republicans in the state.

Woodall continued calling out the secretary of state for his opinion on the ruling and for putting together the task force in general.

“The latest attempt to disenfranchise eligible Georgia voters flies in the face of the integrity of safe, secure, and accessible elections,” Woodall told the AJC. “And that’s why I can no longer participate in such a farce.”

“He’s trying to play tough and endorse voter suppression,” Woodall added. “You can’t say that we need bipartisan election reform and then say we need to disenfranchise eligible Georgia voters to benefit the Republican Party.”

Raffensperger and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp have been the target of numerous attacks by Trump and his supporters for the election loss. In November, after the election, Raffensperger said his wife was receiving sexualized threats after Trump’s loss in the state. Georgia Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, along with the outgoing president, have called on Raffensperger to resign, which he has repeatedly said he will not do.