The race for Georgia's next governor continues to heat up as questions about voting rights and suppression remain unanswered.

Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams has demanded her Republican challenger, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, vacate his position as Sectary of State and overseer of elections to ensure a fair election for the highest office in the state.

According to HuffPost, 53,000 residents' voter registrations have been frozen, feeding into accusations about voter suppression on his part.

The Associated Press reports voter registrations can be halted due to minor form errors or discrepancies between the identity of the voter and the identity information presented on their paperwork. The latter has been the impetus for a lawsuit filed Thursday against Kemp from civil rights group as it is responsible for the majority of frozen registrations. Such registrations are placed on a "suspense" list. Black voters comprise 70 percent of the people on Georgia's current suspense list.

“As he has done for years, Brian Kemp is maliciously wielding the power of his office to suppress the vote for political gain and silence the voices of thousands of eligible voters ― the majority of them people of color,” Abrams spokeswoman Abigail Collazo told CNN in a statement.

Collazo added Kemp should step down immediately “so that Georgia voters can have confidence that their Secretary of State competently and impartially oversee this election.”

The Atlanta Journal-Consitution reported that since his time in office, 214 polling places had been closed — these polling locations were in rural, poor and Black counties. Since 2012, there have been 1.4 million registrations canceled according to the AP.

Kemp has refuted claims of voter rights infringement. On Twitter, he wrote the 53,000 residents whose registrations were frozen can still vote in the November midterms. They would have to bring an acceptable form of ID and dispute issues at election sites.

“The fact is that it has never been easier to register to vote and get engaged in the electoral process in Georgia, and we are incredibly proud to report this new record,” Kemp said in a statement to CNN.

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