Georgia Secretary Of State Says Lindsey Graham And Other Republicans Are Pressuring Him To Throw Out Legal Ballots

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has been pressuring him to exclude legal ballots to give the 2020 presidential election victory to Donald Trump, The Hill reports.

In a Monday interview with The Washington Post, Raffensperger said Graham asked him on Friday if he had the power to throw out ballots in counties with high rates of non-matching signatures. He also inquired if poll workers had accepted ballots with non-matching signatures because of political bias, Raffensperger says.

But Graham says Raffensperger is telling lies, claiming he never pressured Raffensperger about tossing out legal votes. Graham says he was actually trying to figure out how votes were verified and added that he thought Georgia “has some protections that maybe other states don’t have.”

“What I’m trying to find out was how do you verify signatures for mail-in ballots in these states,” Graham told reporters on Monday, The Hill reports. “I thought it was a good conversation. I’m surprised to hear him characterize it that way.” Raffensperger also said that he and his wife have been receiving death threats. One of the threats read, “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it,” he told the Post.

Raffensperger said the attempts to force him not to do his job are tiresome. Other than getting you angry, it’s also very disillusioning, particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle,” he told the Post. “Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say.” Rep. Doug Collins believes Raffensperger is siding with Democrats because he hasn’t supported voter fraud claims.

But Raffensperger, it’s facts over feelings. “I’m an engineer. We look at numbers. We look at hard data. I can’t help it that a failed candidate like Doug Collins is running around lying to everyone. He’s a liar.” Raffensperger said that if there were any claims of voter fraud, they would be investigated. However, there was not a substantial amount of evidence that suggested fraud happened. Nevertheless, Georgia is currently conducting a recount.