Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger calls for firing of Fulton County election officials

WASHINGTON – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday called for the firing of two county-level election officials, citing "continued failures" in handling and administering elections in Fulton County.

"Fulton County’s continued failures have gone on long enough with no accountability. Rick Barron and Ralph Jones, Fulton’s registration chief, must be fired and removed from Fulton’s elections leadership immediately. Fulton’s voters and the people of Georgia deserve better," Raffensperger tweeted.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported earlier this week that 200 absentee ballots in Fulton County had been scanned twice before the recount.

Three separate audits of Georgia's 2020 election results found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Fact check: No evidence of fraud in Georgia election

Local county officials have been at war over whether or not to fire Barron, the county's election's director. Democratic members of the Fulton County Commission want to keep him, while Republican members want to fire him, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

In a statement Thursday responding to Raffensperger, Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts, a Democrat, defended Barron and accused the secretary of state of trying to appease primary election supporters who soured on him after he rejected allegations of widespread fraud in the last election.

Raffensperger, a Republican, faces primary challenger U.S. Rep Jody Hice for another term. Hice has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly attacked Raffensperger after Biden won the state in 2020. Trump also on Wednesday said he would not support Sen. Butch Miller, running for lieutenant governor in the state. Though Miller backs Trump, he has not repeated Trump's false claim that he was cheated out of 16 electoral votes.

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia's Raffensperger calls for firing of Fulton election officials