Jimmy Carter urges Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate to step down as state's top election official

Former President Jimmy Carter doesn't just want Georgia voters to choose Stacey Abrams for governor this fall. He wants her GOP opponent, Georgia's Secretary of State Brian Kemp, to resign entirely.

As poll after poll show Kemp with a tiny lead over Abrams, concerns over Kemp's role as Georgia's top election official have taken hold. Even more controversial is how he's stymied 53,000 voter registration applications, especially for black voters, and that he was recorded voicing his "concern" over Abrams' voter registration push.

But Carter, a former Georgia governor himself, is more concerned about Kemp's electoral oversight. In an Oct. 22 letter obtained by The Associated Press, Carter doesn't mention his endorsement of Abrams and instead tries to reason Kemp out of his current job. He explained to Kemp that "popular confidence is threatened not only by the undeniable racial discrimination of the past ... but also because you are now overseeing the election in which you are a candidate." Therefore, Kemp should "step aside and hand over to a neutral authority the responsibility of overseeing the governor's election," Carter writes.

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Kemp, meanwhile, has responded to his potential conflict of interest by noting that former secretary of state and Democrat Cathy Cox ran for governor in 2006 without resigning. But Cox didn't make it past the Democratic primary to become the party's nominee, AP points out.

AP doesn't know if Kemp has seen or replied to the letter, and Kemp's campaign did not yet respond to a request for comment. Read more about Carter's step into Georgia's race at The Associated Press.