GEORGIA (KXAN) — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is slamming politicians and those who have been forwarding still unproven claims of voter fraud taking place in the 2020 Presidential Election.
The Republican Raffensperger, who functions as the top election official in the state, told The Hill that politicians who continue advancing unsubstantiated and/or discredited rumors around Joe Biden’s victory in the election are engaging in “emotional abuse.”
The Secretary blamed conservative politicians for a flurry of misinformation, saying:
“There’s just people who are really angry and they’re being spun up. It’s really the spinners that should be ashamed for playing with people’s emotions. Politicians of both sides should never play with people’s emotions. It’s one thing to motivate people, I get that. But to spin people up and play with their emotions, it’s emotional abuse and they ought to grow up and start acting with integrity.”
Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger
Raffensperger did not comment on the advancement of baseless allegations by Pres. Donald Trump, but he did express regret that Trump was not victorious in the race.
“I’m a Republican, I’m a conservative one, and I don’t like the idea that President Trump is not going to win. But at the end of the day, I want every voter to know we’re going to do our job and make sure every legal vote is counted.”
In the past two weeks, Raffensperger has been the focus of much attention, as the state of Georgia’s votes await certification and Trump refuses to concede. This process was further derailed by a forensic audit into voting machines ordered by Raffensperger — the machines were ultimately ruled to be accurate.
Currently, Biden is leading Trump by about 14,000 votes. Once certified as the winner, he’ll be the first Democrat to win a presidential race in the state in nearly 30 years.
Adding to the mounting time crunch for certification is the manual re-tally of over 5 million votes Raffensperger managed, which is expected to be completed this week.
While Raffensperger said there were a few instances of voter fraud, like situations where people voted twice, the attempts were discovered, ultimately saying: “There’s not systemic fraud.”
On Monday, the Secretary revealed to The Washington Post that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made a suggestion for Raffensperger to toss specific absentee ballots. Graham responded to the allegation by saying he’d merely been asking about how the process works.
As Biden has continued to lead in the state, Raffensperger has faced boiling pressure from Republicans to corroborate the fraud claims. Trump himself took aim via Twitter, calling Raffensperger a “RINO” — an acronym for “Republican in name only.”
Throughout the entire post-election process, Raffensperger has refused to bow to the pressure, however, repeatedly saying that Georgia’s election was secure and accurate.
