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Article snippet: Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp faced off Tuesday night in their first debate in Georgia’s razor-tight gubernatorial race. The debate, which also included Libertarian candidate Ted Metz, was marked by sharp personal attacks, hot-button issues such as immigration and health care, and continued allegations of voter suppression. There was also a moment of local TV awkwardness when the forum was interrupted by a fire alarm. The debate paused for a couple minutes until the alarm was turned off. With the race in solidly red Georgia currently rated a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report, Abrams stands a chance at becoming the country’s first black female governor, and Tuesday’s debate could prove critical to either candidate. Here are five takeaways from the debate.Voter suppression allegations take center stage Allegations of voter suppression led by Kemp, the current secretary of state, have become a major issue in recent days. Abrams has called on Kemp to step down after The Associated Press reported that more than 53,000 voter registration applications — 70 percent of them from black voters — are on hold after failing to meet the state’s “exact match” law. Georgia law requires an applicant's information on a voter registration form to exactly match the information on a federal or state database. Kemp said he would not resign as the candidates skirted around the issue early in the debate. The moderators later asked Kemp directly about voter suppres... Link to the full article to read more