Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Voting Systems Manager Gabriel Sterling discussed the elections and lawsuits in a press conference on Monday. Both men asserted that the latest recount will confirm the election results, that the lawsuits made baseless claims, and that the upcoming runoff elections are their focus.
Raffensperger announced that the latest recount is scheduled to be completed by midnight on Wednesday. He added that his office will be releasing the recount results online.
“That is the great thing about our paper ballot system: it is auditable, it is recountable, and can provide voters the confidence that the outcomes are correct. Once this recount is complete, everyone in Georgia will be able to have even more confidence in the results of our elections. Despite the massive amounts of misinformation that is being spread by dishonest actors. There are those who exploit the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims, half-truths, misinformation – and frankly, they are misleading the President as well, apparently.”
Raffensperger referenced the two lawsuits in place by attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell.
“As we move forward in the process, we will – as we always have been – we will continue to investigate credible claims of illegal voting and violation of state election law. There are currently over 250 open cases from 2020, and we have 23 investigators.”
Raffensperger mentioned that his office is investigating reports that absentee voters outnumbered ballot envelopes in Fulton County, Gwinnett County, and Cobb County.
Additionally, Raffensperger announced that his office is investigating third party groups that are working to register voters in Georgia.
The secretary of state claimed that America Votes sent absentee ballot applications to people who haven’t lived there since 1994; Vote Forward attempted to register a dead Alabama woman to vote in Georgia; The New Georgia Project sent voter registration applications to New York City; and New Voter Registration Georgia told college students that they can change their address to Georgia and then change it back after the election.
A spokesperson for America Votes stated in an email that they relied on a list of registered voters maintained by Raffensperger.
“Voting in Georgia when you are not a resident of Georgia is a felony,” stated Raffensperger. “And encouraging college students to commit felonies with no regard for what that might mean for them is despicable.”
Raffensperger denounced individuals and groups encouraging voters to boycott the upcoming runoff elections.
“Your right to vote is sacred. Don’t let someone con you out of it. Everyone in my office is doing their job – we will continue to follow the law, and we will continue to follow the process.”
Sterling asserted that the recount result will be the certified result. He mentioned that there were 940,000 absentee ballots in their system so far – 84,000 needing verification, and 1,040 verified and sent to the counties.
Sterling also clarified that there weren’t any issues with Dominion Voting Systems (Dominion) in Fulton County. He explained that the systems crashed on Sunday because the county workers ignored instructions on proper machine usage.
Sterling clarified that there were no “server wipes” that occurred. He explained that Fulton County stoked rumors by failing to explain their mistake to the press.
Additionally, Sterling denounced current criticisms of Dominion within lawsuits as “insanity, fever dreams, made-up, internet cabal.”
Sterling claimed that the hand recount conducted several weeks prior served as proof that no vote switching occurred.
“It’s like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole. Every time we knock down one, there’s a new crazy [that pops up].”
Sterling dismissed the idea of paper-only ballots, stating that the vote counting would still be underway because the population is immense. He shared that Georgia’s electronic voting systems are safer and more efficient than all other elections systems.
“I can guarantee you that this is the most secure election in the state of Georgia.”
Watch the full remarks by Raffensperger and Sterling here.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
