Georgia’s incoming U.S. Congress members sent a letter asking Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to re-verify the absentee ballot signatures.
Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) tweeted the letter, calling on Raffensperger to do more to secure elections.
“More must be done to reassure Georgians our election was conducted fairly, accurately, & transparently,” Carter said. “Today the incoming House GOP delegation asked @GaSecofState to re-verify the signatures & publish county-by-county counts of absentee envelopes vs ballots cast #gapol[.]”
More must be done to reassure Georgians our election was conducted fairly, accurately, & transparently. Today the incoming House GOP delegation asked @GaSecofState to re-verify signatures & publish county-by-county counts of absentee envelopes vs ballots cast #gapol pic.twitter.com/LnpJUttve9
— Buddy Carter (@Buddy_Carter) December 2, 2020
However, Raffensperger hasn’t indicated that he will undertake an audit to re-verify signatures.
Raffensperger hasn’t issued Twitter posts since November 14, opting to share pictures of frequently asked current election question and answers. The latest news issued by his office on Thursday described an investigation into a Republican Florida attorney attempting to register and vote in Georgia’s runoff election.
Raffensperger’s office previously announced investigations into third-party voter registration organizations accused of mass voter fraud ahead of the runoff election. However, Raffensperger has maintained that this year’s elections are the most secure.
Other incumbent representatives that signed on the letter were Drew Ferguson (R-GA-03), Austin Scott (R-GA-08), Jody Hice (R-GA-10), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11), and Rick Allen (R-GA-12). The member-elects that signed on were Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The only two Republican representatives who didn’t sign onto the letter were Doug Collins and Rob Woodall.
In all three of the recounts, Raffensperger hasn’t authorized signature matching for absentee ballot envelopes. The secretary of state has stated that his office has increased rejection rates for absentee votes. However, lawsuits and analysts have challenged Raffensperger’s office on their findings, alleging that the official’s research relied on inaccurate numbers and inconsistently-applied methods of analysis.
During a Georgia hearing on Thursday, Trump legal team showed security cam footage from that appeared to show individuals retrieving ballots from under tables and counting them after telling poll workers and watchers to leave.
Republican Party of Georgia Chairman David Shafer shared the video as confirmation of his previous allegations that vote counting continued for hours after poll watchers were asked to leave.
“From today’s hearing at the State Capitol. Not sure why Twitter has labeled this ‘disputed.’ It is video from the surveillance camera at State Farm Arena where Fulton County election workers scanned ballots late into the night after falsely announcing they were shutting down,” he said.
Shafer further added that Raffensperger has admitted that he was wrong in denying the chairman’s account of what happened during vote counting on election night.
“Although originally claiming that state monitors were present, @GaSecofState now acknowledges that this was untrue, as the video shows. Our position is unchanged. Ballots were counted unlawfully and in secret,” Shafer said.
The Georgia Star News reached out to Shafer for comment – the chairman didn’t respond by press time.
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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].
Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by DXR. CC BY-SA 4.0.
