Griffin hopes to become new Ga. Sect. of State

May 15—Floyd L. Griffin Jr. recently completed a five-day campaign swing in 30 cities across Georgia in his quest to become secretary of state.

Years ago, Griffin became the first Black man from Milledgeville ever elected to the state Senate. After serving as a state lawmaker for several years, he became the first Black mayor of Milledgeville.

He's now seeking to become the first Black man to ever be elected Georgia's secretary of state.

Griffin is a retired Army colonel and businessman, an author and a former college football coach, as well as a member of several boards, including the Georgia College & State University Board of Trustees,

He is among five Democratic candidates running for secretary of state in the Tuesday, May 24 Democratic primary.

"One of the big things that I emphasized on my meet and greet campaign through those 30 cities across Georgia recently was that I am the only candidate running who is from outside the Atlanta metropolitan area," Griffin told The Union-Recorder. "We need to have more Constitutionally-elected officials from outside of the Atlanta metropolitan area representing us. When you talk about one Georgia, how you can have one Georgia when all of your Constitutionally-elected officials are chosen from the Atlanta metropolitan area?"

Griffin contends such is not a fair representation.

Griffin said he is urging voters to elect candidates who will represent all Georgians, not just special interest groups.

"If I am elected as Georgia's next secretary of state, I plan to make the office more accessible to the people by opening a satellite office in Macon to better serve the people and to keep them from having to drive all the way to Atlanta for certain services offered by the Secretary of State's Office," Griffin said.

He also vowed to spend several days each month at the centralized site.

"I want to be as accessible to the people in this state as possible," Griffin said, noting he plans to offer the same type of services at a satellite office in Tifton. "I won't be in the south Georgia office every month, but plan to visit there at least every couple of months."

Griffin said he plans to hire a staff that shares his same beliefs and wants to serve Georgians with the kind of professionalism and courtesy they deserve.

"We have not had a Democratic secretary of state since Cathy Cox," Griffin said.

Cox is now the new president of Georgia College.

Griffin said believes it's important that Georgians elect a candidate who can hit the ground running and he contends he's the right choice.

"We can't allow someone to go into that office on an on-the-job training kind of thing," Griffin said.

Griffin said there are three qualities vitally important to possess as Georgia's next secretary of state.

"That person must have the corporate-level experience, corporate-level management skills, and corporate-level leadership," Griffin said. "I am the candidate with all three of those qualities. First off, I have it from my military career, my many years of being a businessman, and my many years as an elected servant of the people. I am the most qualified person running for this office on the Democratic ticket or the Republican ticket."

Griffin believes he will do well in garnering votes from supporters in the middle, south and southeast parts of the state.

"We also are hoping to get a lot of votes out of the Atlanta metropolitan area, too," Griffin said.

"If that happens, I should be one of the candidates in a Democratic runoff.

"It all depends on the outcome of voter turnout, as I see it," he said. "I'm shooting to get between 25% and 30% of the votes and that equates to between 250,000 and 300,000 [votes] if the prediction of a million votes is actually cast in the Democratic primary."

Griffin said the secretary of state has broad responsibilities. Some of those involve corporations, large and small businesses and state licensing.

"That involves thousands upon thousands of companies, large and small throughout our state," Griffin said. "Another thing that the secretary of state is responsible for is financial security companies, insurance companies, etc."

Another major responsibility is to oversee elections.

"I'm planning on doing an autopsy or audit of this year's election to determine what, if anything, needs to be changed in the Georgia General Assembly as far as election laws are concerned," Griffin said. "Quite often at political forums and places that I travel around the state, people ask me what I was going to do to change the laws."

He said his answer to them is there is nothing he can do about some things and that he must follow the letter of the law.

"But what I can do when I find out something is not what it should be or is not working properly, then I can go to the legislature and try to get it changed," Griffin said. "That's one of the reasons I mentioned that we would do a thorough review of this election to see if there is anything that went wrong and what, if anything, needs to be fixed."

Griffin said he also plans to hold "listening sessions" in larger cities around the state to gauge what Georgians are saying about elections or the last one held in the state.

"I want to know their concerns."