Tensions are high in the Peach State.
Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler called on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (shown) to resign over his handling of the 2020 election, blaming him for the days-long counting and uncertainty amid which Joe Biden is leading President Trump in the once-red state and the two Republicans are headed to runoff elections against their Democrat challengers in January.
“The management of Georgia elections has become an embarrassment for our state. Georgians are outraged, and rightly so,” a combined statement by Perdue and Loeffler reads. “We have been clear from the beginning: every legal vote cast should be counted. Any illegal vote must not. And there must be transparency and uniformity in the counting process. This isn’t hard. This isn’t partisan. This is American. We believe when there are failures, they need to be called out — even when it’s in your own party.”
The statement continues: “There have been too many failures in Georgia elections this year and the most recent election has shined a national light on the problems. While blame certainly lies elsewhere as well, the buck ultimately stops with the Secretary of State. The mismanagement and lack of transparency from the Secretary of State is unacceptable. Honest elections are paramount to the foundation of our democracy.”
The senators conclude: “The Secretary of State has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections. He has failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately.”
Their statement came after Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, announced that 47 counties have reported their certified results. Currently, with 99 percent reporting, Biden leads President Trump by slightly over 12,000 votes.
Georgia Governor Brain Kemp, a Republican who served as secretary of state himself before being elected to the state’s highest office in 2018, called the situation a “wake-up call” for Raffensperger’s office.
“Free and fair elections are the foundation of our American government,” Kemp said in a statement with Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and Speaker David Ralston.
The trio added: “Any allegations of intentional fraud or violations of election law must be taken seriously and investigated. We trust that our Secretary of State will ensure that the law is followed as written and that Georgia’s election result includes all legally cast ballots — and only legally cast ballots. We will continue to follow this situation to ensure a fair and transparent process.”
But Raffensperger not only said he would not step down; he defended his handling of the election and said it is “unlikely” an investigation of fraudulent votes will turn the state around in the president’s favor.
Said the secretary of state:
The voters of Georgia hired me, and the voters will be the one to fire me.…
And as far as lack of transparency … we were literally putting releases of results up at a minimum hourly. I and my office have been holding daily or twice-daily briefings for the press to walk them through all the numbers. So that particular charge is laughable.
Was there illegal voting? I am sure there was. And my office is investigating all of it. Does it rise to the numbers or margin necessary to change the outcome to where President Trump is given Georgia’s electoral votes? That is unlikely.…
As a Republican, I am concerned about Republicans keeping the U.S. Senate. I recommend that Senators Loeffler and Perdue start focusing on that.
Georgia has a significant 16 electoral votes. For a candidate to win the presidency, he needs 270. The media has placed Biden at 290, which includes Georgia and Arizona (which has 11), both of which are close and still being counted. Losing the two red states from his column would take away Joe Biden’s supposed “victory.”
The presidential race is far from over. Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday put out a memo to U.S. attorneys authorizing them to open election-fraud investigations “if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.”
The decision appeared to prompt the resignation of Richard Pilger, the director of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Election Crimes Branch.
Things are on the right track if career officials and longtime swamp creatures are stepping down. Fighters are needed now more than ever. With the fate of the Republic at stake, this is a battle Trump and America cannot afford to lose.
