Columbus area legislator outspoken on 2 controversial issues 1st week of GA assembly
A state legislator from the Columbus area has been outspoken about two controversial issues making news during the first week of the 2026 Georgia General Assembly in Atlanta:
- Whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should be allowed to wear masks while making arrests in Georgia.
- Whether Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should be forced to comply with the Trump administration’s demand for voter information.
ICE masks and identification bill in Georgia
Democratic lawmakers announced Tuesday legislation to change how immigration is enforced in Georgia. Senate Bill 389 calls for ICE agents to wear proper identification and to remove their masks while making arrests in the state.
“As far as wearing of tactical gear, whether it be a mask, a helmet, or anything else, that is a decision made case by case, and the supervisors make those determinations,” said state Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula), according to Georgia Public Broadcasting. “Not a group of legislators sitting in an air-conditioned and heated room in the middle of Atlanta, Ga. That’s the responsibility of law enforcement leaders to make that decision.”
DOJ v. Raffensperger
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Raffensperger to force him to provide detailed information on Georgia voters.
The DOJ alleges in its lawsuit that it asked Raffensperger for that information to ensure Georgia is complying with statewide voter registration list maintenance requirements and his office refused to provide it. The DOJ argues this violates the Civil Rights Act of 1960, according to the lawsuit.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, on behalf of the DOJ’s civil rights division, twice requested in a letter to Raffensperger to provide voting records that include “all fields,” which would include Georgia residents’ full name, date of birth, residential address, state driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number, court records show.
She also asked for the contact information of local election officials, since they also are part of maintaining the voter registration list, according to the lawsuit.
Raffensperger hasn’t turned over the records because he claims Georgia law prohibits the disclosure of the specific records Dhillon requested. Raffensperger did provide some requested records Dec. 8, but the records excluded “sensitive information that implicates special privacy concerns,” his attorney, Charlene McGowan, said in a letter to the DOJ.
Tuesday, Georgia Republican legislators introduced a resolution demanding Raffensperger comply with the Trump administration’s request for the state’s unredacted voter registration list, part of an effort seeking such information from all 50 states, the Capitol Beat News Service reported.
Georgia Senate Resolution 563 comes from allies of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is running against Raffensperger to be the Republican Party’s nominee for governor, according to Capitol Beat.
It accuses Raffensperger of “willful and persistent obstruction” after his office provided a public version of Georgia’s voter list to the DOJ, Capitol Beat reported.
“All I’m asking from our duly elected secretary of state is to participate in any legally established investigation, like any other citizen would be required to do,” said Robertson, the resolution’s sponsor, according to Capitol Beat. “The Department of Justice is the highest-ranking law enforcement agency in the United States, and they absolutely have the right to investigate when they choose.”
McClatchy reporter Alba Rosa contributed to this story.
