[Sciutto:] Growing controversies just hours before Georgia's candidates for governor face off in their first debate. Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp is facing allegations in court today that he and other county officials are excessively rejecting absentee ballots, specifically from minority voters. And this morning, the Democrat Stacey Abrams, explaining her presence at a 1992 protest that included burning a Georgia state flag. That protest part of her opposition to confederate symbolism. Drew Griffin joins me now. Drew, let's start with this lawsuit against Kemp. What's behind it specifically?
[Drew Griffin, Cnn Senior Investigative Correspondent:] Basically, it's a big suburban county, Gwinnett County, suburban county of Atlanta, that seems to have a very high rate of rejecting these absentee ballots. Some 600 ballots or so have been rejected. That makes up about, if I'm going to give you statistics, Jim, 35 percent of all absentee ballots state-wide, even though this county, this one county accounts for only 6 percent of the ballots. So what the ACLU and others are doing is asking a judge to get this stopped. To at least have this county, which says among other things it's rejecting these ballots because the signatures either are not there or don't match what's on the voter registration card, get them to hire an actual handwriting analysis if they're going to use this kind of handwriting to throw out ballots. And also, to set up a better system for notifying these voters that their ballots have been rejected so they can still vote in these elections, either early voting or getting another absentee ballot. That's going to take place this afternoon.
[Sciutto:] To be clear, Kemp, as secretary of state, though he's running for governor, he still is overseeing his own election.
[Griffin:] Yes, in general terms, and that's why you're seeing you know these voter suppression allegation lawsuits coming out one after another after another. But keep in mind, you know, Brian Kemp does not run Gwinnett County. So these are county officials who are supposedly denying these ballots. He is being sued because as you say, the secretary of state, who is running for governor, is a Republican candidate, overseas the overall elections in the state of Georgia.
[Sciutto:] So let's talk now about Stacey Abrams, of course, his opponent for governor. "The New York Times" reporting that she attended a protest in 1992 during which the Georgia state flag, which included a confederate design, that it was burned there. What more do we know about that?
[Griffin:] No denial at all. The picture is right there, that is Stacey Abrams, one of the students from Spelman College. This is 1992. They're not denying it was her. They're not denying that they burned that flag, which you know, had the confederate stars and bars on it at the time. The campaign sent out a statement just saying this was "During Stacey Abrams' college years and Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues including symbols of the confederacy." So they're not denying this. They're just reminding everybody this was 1992, Stacey Abrams, a college student here in Atlanta. This all comes up before the first actual debate between these two people, Jim, which is tonight.
[Sciutto:] Drew Griffin thanks for following that story, fascinating to watch. To another key race, this one in Montana and for the president, a personal one. He blames the incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Tester for derailing his pick to head the veteran's affairs administration. CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, she has more.
[Gloria Borger, Cnn Chief Political Analyst:] Donald Trump jetted into big sky country and he was on the hunt.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] Jon Tester led the Democrat mob in the effort to destroy the reputation of a great man. Admiral Ronny Jackson.
[Borger:] Tester opposed the president's favorite, the White House doctor, to run the veterans administration.
[Sen. Jon Tester , Montana Senate Candidate:] This doctor has a problem because he hands out prescriptions like candy. In fact, in the White House, they call him the Candy Man.
[Borger:] Jackson withdrew, Tester is running for re-election. And Trump has tightly embraced his opponent, Matt Rosendale. And Rosendale hugs him right back.
[Matt Rosendale , Montana Senate Candidate:] I will stand in strong support of President Trump because the work that he's doing really is making America great again.
[Borger:] The race is up for grabs because Montanans pride themselves on their voting independence. Mick Ringsack is a life-long Republican who supports Trump.
[Mick Ringsack, Tester Supporter:] If the election were today, I would vote for him again.
[Borger:] He also supports Tester, in a state with the second highest per capita veteran's population in the country.
[Ringsack:] Jon was working for veterans before he was even sworn in.
[Borger:] You think there are a lot of people who will split their ticket?
[Ringsack:] I do. Montana has a history of splitting tickets. You know, we have a Democratic governor, Republican attorney general, one Democratic senator, one Republican senator.
[Borger:] Donald Trump won the state of Montana by 20 points. So Tester walks a fine line. Careful not to take on the president directly and also point out how many of his bills the president has signed. He's been here three times. His son has been here. He tweeted about you and Dr. Ronny Jackson. Is he doing payback here? What do you think this is all about?
[Sen. Jon Tester , Montana Senate Candidate:] No, I mean, what I think it's about is him loving Montana.
[Borger:] Tester is Montana born and bred, a third generation dirt farmer who still works the land on weekends. He's now asking for a third term. Rosendale, who made a fortune in Maryland real estate, moved to Montana in 2002, became a state senator, and is now the state auditor, but Tester says Rosendale is not Montana enough.
[Tester:] He's a coast developer from Maryland who came to the state and bought a ranch and claims to be a rancher but has no cows.
[Unidentified Male:] Montana will never fall for Matt Rosendale bull.
[Rudy Koestner, Rosendale Supporter:] He was elected in his district as a Montana legislator. That proves he's got to be Montanan.
[Borger:] But not on the issues, Tester says. Not on who controls public lands, health care, or veterans benefits to name a few.
[Tester:] If he runs on his record, he's going to get clobbered. And so, he has to do something different.
[Borger:] So Rosendale is charging that Tester is a D.C. Liberal, out of touch with Montana.
[Unidentified Male:] When he does show up, Tester's like all the other liberals. We need to send President Trump some conservative re-enforcements.
[Borger:] But unlike Trump, who lately is a chatty media-seeking missile, Rosendale drives away from his own Trump rally right past reporters and into the night. Gloria Borger, CNN, Missoula, Montana.
[Sciutto:] One of many bellwether races this cycle. Coming up now, news just in to CNN. Sad news about former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to sit on the court, she's now telling her family that she has dementia. We're going to have much more on that story just ahead.