Georgia's Republican senators demand GOP secretary of state resign over 'election irregularities' but provide NO evidence of any - and he scoffs: 'That's not going to happen'
Georgia's two Republican senators called for the state's secretary of state to quit Monday over claims made without evidence that there were 'irregularities' in the election - even though he is from their own party.
The demanded Brad Raffensperger, the state's chief elections officer, step down with Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump by more than 11,000 votes in the state.
Georgia is one front in a nationwide scramble by Trump forces to question his loss in multiple states, after The Associated Press and other news organizations declared Biden the victor Saturday when he surpassed the 270 electoral vote threshold with victories in Pennsylvania and Nevada.
The AP has not yet called the presidential race for Georgia's 16 electoral votes.
Perdue and Loeffler offered no evidence and gave no specific examples of illegal votes or fraud, and their campaigns did not respond to requests for further comment.
Raffensperger flatly declined to step down, saying in a statement, 'That is not going to happen.'
The statewide elected Republican said his office is investigating any specific reports of illegal votes, but officials don't expect to find any significant problems.
'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,' Raffensperger said.
Elected in 2018, Raffensperger has overseen the rollout of Georgia's new voting system, which features touchscreen machines that print paper ballots read by a scanner.
He should go: Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue - both facing their own runoff election after in his case failing to get 50% in a race and in her case coming second in a three-way race - called for their own party's secretary of state to quit in Georgia, claming election irregularities and providing no evidence of any
'Won't be happening.' Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger scoffed at the demand that he should quit
Georgia was project for Biden, even though he is only around 10,000 votes ahead of Trump as canvassing in the state continues
After the coronavirus pandemic began, he strongly encouraged voters to vote by mail, despite criticism from other Republicans.
Loeffler and Perdue, who face a pair of Jan. 5 runoffs against Democrats that will determine party control of the U.S. Senate, accused Raffensperger of 'mismanagement and lack of transparency.'
'The Secretary of State has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections,' they said in a joint statement. 'He has failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately.'
Both senators themselves had faced allegations of insider trading over stock sales after they were briefed on coroanvirus.
Other Republicans have been more cautious, with Gov. Brian Kemp, House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan all supporting the accuracy of the count in a joint Friday statement.
On Monday, however, Kemp spokesperson Cody Hall said the Republicans' concerns should be 'a wake-up call' for Raffensperger to examine 'any and all' fraud allegations.
Kemp, a former secretary of state who oversaw the 2018 elections while he was running for governor, came under intense fire from Democrats and outside voting groups. Kemp narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, but she refused to explicitly concede, alleging systemic voter suppression by Kemp.
On Monday, Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group Abrams founded after her loss, attacked Perdue and Loeffler.
'With their bizarre press statement, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have become full participants in Donald Trump's crybaby campaign to undermine our democracy,' spokesperson Seth Bringman said. 'Voters decided, and President-Elect Joe Biden won Georgia.'
Raffensperger's office said officials are confident in the results of the 2020 election.
'The facts are the facts, regardless of outcomes,' Gabriel Sterling, who oversaw the implementation of the new voting system, said at a news conference. He said he wanted everyone to understand 'that in Georgia we had an actual accurate outcome.'
He debunked examples of what he characterized as misinformation about problems that occurred as votes were counted in several counties in the state.
While Sterling was speaking at the Georgia Capitol, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was laying out the GOP recount strategy to House Republicans in the same building.
Perdue, a former Georgia governor, is the cousin of David Perdue.
Recounts rarely change outcomes in races where a candidate leads by thousands of votes. By Monday, 55 of Georgia's 159 counties had submitted certified, final results, including Gwinnett County, the state's second most populous county.
'We must count every legal vote and cast out every illegal vote in the state of Georgia,' Sonny Perdue said.
Perdue said the GOP is trying to flip the deficit before the state certifies overall results.
'We obviously know the President is currently trailing in Georgia,' Sonny Perdue said. 'We do believe that Georgia may be his best chance of reclaiming that lead and helping secure the electors he needs to be reelected.'
Trump expressed that confidence himself, tweeting on Monday afternoon that 'Georgia will be a big presidential win, as it was the night of the Election!'
Perdue said the Trump legal team is focused on four issues. The first is whether people may have voted twice, as may have happened in some cases in Georgia´s June primary, where people who requested an absentee ballot may have gone to polls to vote in person because they believed their absentee ballot hadn´t been received.
Loser at the helm: GOP Georgia Representative Doug Collins was put in charge of the recount effort in his home state - after coming third in a three-way race for the seat Kelly Loeffler was appointed to
Collins lost his Senate bid against Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock – who will face-off in a runoff election January 5
Perdue also said Republicans are trying to make sure votes weren't cast by people who moved out of state, on behalf of those who have died, or by convicted felons who haven't completed probation or parole or paid all their fines. He presented no specific instances or evidence of wrongdoing, saying complaints still need to be investigated.
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, who gave up his seat and then came up short in his attempt to beat Loeffler and reach the Senate runoff, was tapped Sunday to lead the recount team in Georgia.
'During the coming recount, we are confident we will find evidence of improperly harvested ballots and other irregularities that will prove that President Trump won Georgia fairly again on his way to re-election as President,' Collins said in a statement released by Trump's campaign team.
'Georgians deserve a free and open process, and they will get one.'
Loeffler, the incumbent senator in that race, earned 29.5 per cent of the vote to Warnock's 32.9 per cent – and Collins earned 20 per cent. Neither Loeffler nor Warnock earned the 50 per cent threshold needed to outright win, instead forcing a runoff election, which will be held January 5.
As Collins prepares to vacate his House seat by January, he will champion recounting efforts in his home state as the president continues to lament there were fishy circumstances surrounding Biden's last-minute pull ahead.
'We are concerned about the lack of transparency in the tabulation process, especially given the reports of irregularities and improper ballot harvesting in Georgia,' Matt Morgan, Trump's 2020 general counsel, said in the statement announcing Collins as the lead of that effort.
'In order for Americans to have full faith and confidence in our elections, every legal vote must be counted and every illegal or fraudulent vote must be excluded,' Morgan continued. 'We look forward to guaranteeing that our elections are safe and secure, just as we look forward to President Trump winning Georgia.'
Potentially in preparation for this role, Collins tweeted Saturday that the election was not over 'until every legal vote is counted' as media outlets called the election for Biden.
'No matter what the media tells you, this is NOT over,' the staunch Trump ally posted as people took to the streets in celebration of Biden's projected victory. 'It's not over until every LEGAL vote is counted. This is America. We the PEOPLE decide who our next President is. NOT the media.'
