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Georgia’s top election official raged Tuesday over what he described as politicians giving false hopes and angering over unsubstantiated allegations of systemic electoral fraud, calling it “psychological violence” to deceive them. voters by making them believe that the election was stolen from President Trump
Donald John Trump 46% of voters say Trump should immediately concede: Michigan County poll reverses course, votes unanimously to certify election results GOP Senator: Trump should not fire senior government official cybersecurity PLUS.
In an exclusive interview with The Hill, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a self-proclaimed “conservative Republican,” declined to blame Trump directly for spreading unsubstantiated claims about voting machines altering ballots or ballots. “illegal” votes counted.
But Raffensperger unloaded on Rep. Doug collins
Douglas (Doug) Allen Collins Georgia Election Leader caught in GOP sights Democrats view young voters as critical in Georgia runoff Graham denies pressuring Georgia’s top election official to he throws ballots MORE (R-Ga.) And other GOP politicians, he said, created a dangerous environment – including threats of violence against him and his wife – because he took issue with the idea that systemic fraud was behind the president elect Joe biden
Joe Biden 46% of voters say Trump should give in immediately: Michigan County poll reverses course, votes unanimously to certify election results GOP Senator: Trump shouldn’t fire top cybersecurity officialthe victory of Georgia.
“There are just people who are really angry and upset,” Raffensperger said. “These are really the spinners who should be ashamed of playing with people’s emotions. Politicians on both sides should never play with people’s emotions. It’s one thing to motivate people, I understand that. But turning people around and playing with their emotions is emotional abuse and they should grow up and start acting with integrity.
The Hill pointed out that Trump, who attacked Raffensperger as a “Republican in name only”, is responsible for spreading discredited information about voter fraud.
However, the secretary of state refused to directly criticize the president.
“I’m a Republican, I’m a conservative, and I don’t like the idea that President Trump is not going to win,” Raffensperger said. “But at the end of the day, I want every voter to know that we’re going to do our job and make sure every legal vote is counted.”
Meaning. David Perdue
Georgia Election Leader David Perdue caught in GOP sights, Loeffler and Warnock agree to December debate Kyle Kulinski: Joe Biden will immediately sign executive orders to quash Trump’s actions MORE (R-Ga.) And Kelly loeffler
Kelly Loeffler, Georgia Chief Electoral Officer, says Trump ‘suppressed’ GOP vote, costing Georgia state chief electoral officer caught in GOP sights Loeffler and Warnock accept debate December PLUS (R-Ga.) Called on Raffensperger to resign, accusing him of not doing enough to stamp out fraud and corruption in the electoral process.
Perdue and Loeffler are heading for a second round of the January election which will determine the balance of power in the Senate. Both GOP senators will need the base of Trump supporters behind them to win their races, and the president has sued Republicans who he says did not do enough to promote his claim that the election had him been stolen.
Raffensperger dismissed the senators’ criticisms, saying they were driven by their need to transform the president’s base.
“Most likely, that was it,” Raffensperger said.
The secretary of state was trained as an engineer and looks like an accountant, with his frameless glasses and slim physique.
Now he is at the center of a political storm over Trump’s refusal to concede and the president’s efforts to undermine confidence in the results by claiming without evidence that corrupt Democrats conspired to steal the election from him.
Republicans, many of whom fear the president will take revenge, have piled on Raffensperger. The fate of the secretary of state turned heads after Democrats accused him of suppressing the vote in 2018 to elect the governor. Brian kemp
Brian Kemp Elections Chief Georgia caught in GOP sights Loeffler and Warnock agree to debate Trump in December denounces Georgia recount process (R-Ga.) In his race against Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams.
Biden leads in Georgia with less than 14,000 votes, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate in nearly 30 years to win the once reliable Republican state.
Once the results are certified, the Trump campaign may demand a recount, having finished within half a point of Biden. Recounts normally don’t account for the kind of massive changes Trump would need to overcome his deficit.
Raffensperger has conducted his own investigations to address GOP concerns about fraud.
The Secretary of State ordered a forensic audit of the electoral machine after Republicans claimed the company behind the systems rigged the machines to transfer votes from Trump to Biden. The machines produce a paper trail that can be directly linked to the actions of the voter.
“It turns out the machines were precise,” Raffensperger said. “Nothing had been returned.”
Raffensperger also carried out a manual resumption of the more than 5 million votes cast in the state, which is expected to be completed this afternoon. There was no change in the count due to suspicious activity.
The secretary of state said his office uncovered isolated cases of fraud, including 1,400 people who attempted to vote twice in the primary, which he described as a “failure at the election official level.”
He said several hundred attempted to vote twice in the general election but were thwarted.
Raffensperger said his postal vote fraud task force includes a US attorney from the Southern District of New York who found their efforts to prevent fraud to be “dominant.”
“There is no systemic fraud,” Raffensperger said.
“Not in Georgia, there is no basis for it,” he added.
The retaliation has exposed some human errors that have pushed Trump slightly closer to Biden, although that is not enough to call the result into question.
In Fayette County, a flashcard that was not uploaded added 2,755 more votes to count, with Trump getting over 400 votes on Biden in that batch.
In Floyd County, officials discovered 2,500 ballots that had not been scanned, bringing Trump closer to about 800 votes.
Raffensperger said these are the types of things audits and reporting are designed to reveal.
“It’s a good thing,” he said. “People don’t need to be upset about this. That is why we carried out the audit. “
Raffensperger has made waves this week to claim that Sen. Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin Graham Lawmakers Ask Tech CEOs About Content Moderation In First Post-Election Hearing Graham Becomes Focus Of Georgia Storm GOP Senators Congratulate Harris In Senate MORE (RS.C.) called him and urged him to reject the legal ballots of those absent from Democratic strongholds in the state.
Graham took issue with Raffensperger’s description of the conversation, saying he was urging the Secretary of State to investigate the questionable mail ballots.
“We don’t need outside influence,” Raffensperger said.
“I don’t know what it was, but it was something – we weren’t going to go down that route,” he added. “I thought [Graham] was calling about Senate races. I didn’t realize he wanted to talk about the presidential race.
Raffensperger also made headlines for claiming that Trump may have inadvertently suppressed his own vote by warning his supporters against sending mail ballots during a global pandemic.
He said his office identified 24,500 Republican voters who did not vote in the general election after sending out postal ballots for the GOP primaries.
“It’s 24,500 people who have left the political battlefield, and this is why President Trump actually suppressed, depressed his vote, telling people not to vote by absentee,” Raffensperger said. .
The Hill asked Raffensperger if this could happen again in the Senate special election, given Republicans are now warning that even machine votes cannot be trusted.
“We’re trying to dispel this lie, this rumor,” he said. “These machines are precise.”
Raffensperger has warned Republicans that Democrats are already flooding their database with information on how to request postal ballots for a special election in which postal voting will play a vital role.
“The Republican Party has to get there and make sure it does the same,” Raffensperger said. “You must fight fire with fire. It’s a legal process and we really have to go out there and get our ground game going. “
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