North Fulton Today

U.S. House 10th Congressional District candidate Vernon Jones is urging state lawmakers to pass legislation to end open-primary voting in the state of Georgia, a recent report from FOX 5 Atlanta said.

This comes as an Associated Press analysis of early voting records found more than 37,000 people that voted in the state's Democratic primary two years ago had cast ballots in Georgia’s Republican primary this year.

“This needs to be done and it needs to be done now," Jones told reporters during a news conference at the state Capitol on Monday. "Republican voters should be deciding Republican primaries. Democratic voters should be deciding Democratic primaries."

Georgia does not register voters by party, paving the way for any eligible voter to cast a ballot in the party of their choice, the report said. 

Crossover voting is not uncommon across the country. Democratic political strategist and Georgia Gang panelist Tharon Johnson told FOX 5 Atlanta that many Democrats in some of North Carolina’s congressional districts cross over and vote for a Republican candidate when there are not a lot of competitive races. Most of these, she said, are not strong Democrat voters but rather swing voters who have voted in either party’s primary in previous elections.

Jones finished second to Mike Collins in last month's 10th Congressional District Republican primary race, FOX 5 reported. The two are set to face off in this month’s runoff election June 21.