Stacey Abrams says she was almost stuck with the vote in the election in Georgia: NPR

Georgian Democratic Party candidate Stacey Abrams addresses a crowd gathered for the "Souls to The Polls" march in downtown Atlanta last month.

Jessica McGowan / Getty Images

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Jessica McGowan / Getty Images

Georgian Democratic Party candidate Stacey Abrams addresses a crowd gathered for the "Souls to The Polls" march in downtown Atlanta last month.

Jessica McGowan / Getty Images

Democrat Stacey Abrams is not backing what she calls tactics of voter repression and mismanagement after losing the Georgian governor's race. In fact, Abrams said that she had been directly confronted with the problems that arose in her country, having almost been denied a ballot at an early vote.

In an interview with Morning edition Facilitator Steve Inskeep, Democrat Democratic nominee, said that when she went to vote last month, an election staff member first told her that she had asked for a mail ballot and that she could not vote in person. Abrams replied that she had never asked for a mail ballot and that after a conversation with the site manager, the problem had been quickly resolved.

"I did it discreetly, I did not turn it into an important conversation because for me it was to carry out the process," Abrams said. Followed by the cameras of the polling stations, she said to keep the snafu secret because "I was not trying to embarrass anyone, but I wanted it fixed".

"But it was also for me a privilege," continued Abrams, a graduate of Yale Law School. "I know the law, there are thousands, millions in Georgia do not know their rights and therefore do not know that they should not have to wait for four hours in the rain with their children. not have to worry about knowing if they will lose their jobs in order to exercise their democratic right to vote for their leaders. "

The former minority leader of the Democratic State House, who was trying to become the first black woman to be elected governor in the United States, ended her campaign on Friday after admitting that Republican Brian Kemp would be certified winner of the race for the judiciary.

The race had lasted 10 days after polling day, but his campaign's efforts to ensure that provisional and other ballots were counted were not enough to narrow the gap and force a second election. turn next month between her and Kemp. In the end, Abrams trailed Kemp with nearly 55,000 votes.

But in his provocative speech Friday, Abrams clearly did not concede – declaring that Kemp, state secretary and high-ranking election official of Georgia, had carried out the "deliberate and intentional" crackdown on voters, which had contributed to his loss. She echoed these sentiments to NPR and said the new elected governor should be held accountable.

"The totality of mistakes made, blatant mismanagement, incompetence – 1.5 million people served [from voter rolls], 53,000 [votes] put on hold, 3,000 people were denied the right to register as new citizens, long voting lines, misplaced provisional ballots – the whole set of questions, demonstrates that there has been blatant mismanagement of our elections, "said Abrams," I know I would have won, but I say that the results have inevitably been made less safe and less secure because of the measures taken. by the secretary of state. "

An October investigation by public radio journalists revealed an increase in the number of voters who were struck out under Kemp for failing to vote in previous elections. Kemp said that he was only following the law and that Georgia is one of only nine states to use the so-called "use or lose" policy that allows voters to get away with it. be stricken from the role if they do not participate.

Abrams said she would "speculate" that it's true that what she called "mismanagement" helped Kemp win. The Republican was criticized for not stepping down from his post of election supervisor during the campaign and resigned only after polling day. And he was also criticized for purging the voters lists and rejecting some new applications.

"But we do not know" to what extent Kemp's actions have contributed "because of the insidiousness of this behavior," said Abrams. "And that is why I was ready to acknowledge that the election is over because, given the current state of our laws, that is what is true. But what I mean is that it was not a fair fight. "

This push for a "fair fight" for all voters is what she now plans to pursue through the group that she has created, Fair Fight Georgia. As it announced last Friday, one of the first steps of the organization will be to initiate a federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia.

"It will be based on the thousands of calls we have received from our hotline, the thousands of complaints we have received, not only immediately, but also on pre-election facts." all the challenges faced by the State of Georgia, from broken machines to electoral repression and electoral purges to the effective execution of the election by early voting on polling day "; explained Abrams.

Kemp pointed out the record participation rate for reasons of hiccups throughout the state. In fact, when Kemp went to vote, he even encountered a technical problem. In the past, Kemp said that Abrams' claims about the repression of voters constituted a "joke" and constituted "a distraction to withdraw from Mrs. Abrams's extreme program that she has".

In a statement made after the end of the election campaign against Abrams on Friday, Kemp said he and the Georgians were "ready to go ahead" and should not "linger on division politics". the past". But Abrams reiterated that her call for changes to the vote and increased scrutiny should not be a partisan issue, and she hopes Kemp will support her group's efforts.

"There is no division in the call for justice and democracy," Abrams said. "It's at the heart of who we are as Americans, it's at the heart of who we are as Georgians, and I would say that I hope [Kemp] I will be with me to improve the integrity of our elections, to demonstrate that he is a man of good will who wants people to vote, no matter where they live, no matter who they are. vote. And until now, he has not demonstrated this type of leadership and I hope that he will take his own words to heart and that he will do so in the coming days. "

Abrams has been criticized by Republicans and others for refusing to concede and for questioning the legitimacy of the result. Richard Hasen, a professor at the University of California Irvine Law School, wrote: Slate that "the Democrats should stop saying that the race was" stolen "" because "the rhetoric about stolen elections fuels a growing cycle of mistrust and delegitimization of the electoral process" – what President Trump himself has done .

But the Democratic politician – who told CNN this weekend that she was planning to run for president – said that in this case, "it is necessary to press for the integrity of our elections on the basis of available evidence ".

"We have four federal judges who have already identified flaws that we have established.We have a lot of evidence, we have affidavits, we have a lawsuit that will state exactly what we are talking about and we do not need to appear or otherwise fabricate information, "said Abrams. "We will use the evidence of this election and the last eight years to demonstrate not only our cause, but also the cure."