ATLANTA — The Carter Center announced Tuesday it was launching a campaign to urge swing state candidates to adopt a pledge to recognize the legitimacy of election outcomes and uphold election norms.
Georgia's three candidates for Secretary of State - incumbent Republican Brad Raffensperger, Democrat Bee Nguyen and Libertarian Ted Metz - all were among the first to sign on.
The pledge is called the Candidate Principles for Trusted Elections and asks candidates to agree to:
- "Cooperate with election officials, adhere to rules and regulations, and refrain from knowingly propagating falsehoods about the electoral process."
- "Encourage a peaceful election atmosphere during the preelection, polling, counting, and post-election periods. Denounce any attempt to intimidate, harass, threaten, or incite violence against opponents, their supporters, and election workers."
- "Respect voters' freedom to exercise their lawful rights to register and vote, free from interference, obstruction, or intimidation."
- "Encourage political parties and others to train poll watchers on the election process and appropriate roles and behaviors, responsibilities, and obligations."
- "Make claims of election irregularities in accordance with the law and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcomes after the results have been certified and all contestations decided."
The Carter Center those principles will serve to uphold the "five core doctrines of democratic elections" - integrity, nonviolence, security, oversight and the peaceful transfer of power.
“When individuals sign on, they’re sending a signal to their friends, coworkers, and neighbors that they respect each other and the law — and that they expect their political leaders to do the same," Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander said in a statement.
The Carter Center said the campaign would focus on candidates in five states - Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona and Michigan. However, anyone is welcome to sign on and support the principles at principledcandidates.org (that site was not yet live as of Tuesday afternoon).