Six years after Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger defied President Donald Trump, the Georgia official is still scrutinizing polls and making sure the voting process is not the “third world” mess that Trump claims it is without proof.
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“He’s still battling many of the same issues that initially made him a target of President Donald Trump and his allies, with fellow Republicans sowing doubt about election administration in Georgia and nationally, despite a lack of evidence,” reports NBC News. “So Raffensperger is pulling out all the stops to demonstrate the voting process will be safe, secure and accurate ahead of the November election.”
Raffensperger was thrust into the front lines of the nation’s voting wars in 2020, after Trump tried to claim the state was stolen from him and went to Biden. It is an argument that Trump stubbornly spreads to this day — but the secretary of state and his metaphorical clipboard is overseeing his final election in the key battleground state. And he will abide no attempts by the president or anybody to undermine that effort.
“My job isn’t to make sure that the Republicans win or the Democrats win. My job is to make sure the winner wins, and you’re just going to have to accept the facts,” Raffensperger said in an interview with NBC News. “At the end of the day, we’re going to beat you to death with audits. Twenty risk-limiting audits. Most states don’t do any — maybe they’ll do one or two. We’re going to do 20 here in Georgia, and you’re just going to say, ‘I can’t handle so many facts.’”
This is no easy feat. A “risk-limiting audit” is when election officials recount a random selection of ballots to ensure results are accurate. And in Georgia, that process is done by hand.
It’s a lot of work, but NBC News reports the extra steps are necessary when you’ve got a president who likes to undermine democracy to save face.
“Since winning a second term, Trump has not only continued to make unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud — including during a primetime address this summer — but has attempted to exert greater federal control over the election process,” reports NBC. “Ahead of this year’s midterms, his administration has unsuccessfully sought to implement more restrictive mail voting rules and obtain voter rolls from dozens of states, including Georgia — moves that Raffensperger opposed in court. The FBI also raided a Fulton County, Georgia, election office earlier this year, seizing ballots from the 2020 election.
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Trump endorsed Raffensperger’s opponent in the Republican primary for Georgia’s governor, which sealed his loss earlier this year. But Raffensperger still vehemently insists elections should remain under state and local control, not the White House. And he dismisses Trump’s MAGA allies on the Georgia State Election Board who are pushing for more federal control.
As recently as last week, the board’s executive director, James Mills, urged the Trump administration to examine voting machines and change the way the state counts votes. But Raffensperger trampled that demand as a “last-minute” federal intervention.
“Seemingly, they sit around, they have meetings, they don’t really accomplish anything. They’re just wasting people’s time,” said Raffensperger of the Trumpy commissioners. “They’re wasting their own time. Boy, I don’t know why they would be doing that. We’re here doing serious work.”
“Bless their hearts,” he then added — delivering a genteel Southern backhand.
Raffensperger made an enemy out of Trump by essentially calling him a liar in 2020 over a stolen election. Still, he’s ready to lock antlers with anybody who tries to undermine his precious election system. This apparently still includes White House Republicans.
“I love when my team wins, but we don’t win every single race. But we know that we have correct and accurate results, and that’s the job of the office of secretary of state,” he said.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Image via Screengrab / PBS.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Image via Screengrab / PBS.Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Image via Screengrab / PBS.
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