MACON, Ga. — It was 'Macon & Eggs' with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The event is put on by the Macon-Bibb County Chamber of Commerce.
Other topics community leaders had questions about were the nursing shortage, the new state licensing system and educating high schoolers about voter registration.
Raffensperger says he wants to assure voters there will be a fair, honest and accurate election. He says the country's eyes will be on Georgia because it is a competitive state again in the 2024 election.
Raffensperger says he is working to make sure all ballot machines are up to date.
"Do random security of all the machines. Do a test ballot just to verify that it's still accurate, hasn't been hacked, and things like that. Then we give a detailed report to all the counties, and all the counties by in large have just really done a tremendous job," Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger says they've brought in a team to verify that the ballot machines are safe and up to date. With an upcoming election, Raffensperger wants Georgians to know voters will have no worries when they go to vote.
"You're gonna have 17 days of early voting, election day and obviously you can vote no-excuse absentee voting," Raffensperger said.
Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections director Thomas Gillon says he agrees that election security is important.
"I agree that the purpose of the election is to be fair, accurate, and honest, and we're doing our part to make sure that happens," Gillon said.
Another question that came up during the event was how Raffensperger's office would handle different licenses like nursing licenses, business licenses and military licenses. He says his office will be updating software to handle more applications.
"The application numbers we've had just in nursing. We're over 65,000 new nurses in the four-and-a-half years since I've been secretary of state, so that's the kind of uptick we've had across the board in all the different licenses," Raffensperger said.
The Georgia Secretary of State has a wide array of responsibilities beyond overseeing the state's elections like business and professional licensing.