Talking to reporters from the state Capitol Monday, Raffensperger explained that his office is investigating any credible allegations that groups are working to register ineligible people to vote ahead of a high-profile runoff election for Georgia's two U.S. Senate seats. He said his office's 23 investigators are further proceeding to look into charges of issues with absentee ballots, as well as applications of people who voted twice, people who cast a ballot in a dead person's name, and non-residents who voted in Georgia.
Gabriel Sterling, a top official in Raffensperger's office, explained that more than 250 cases have been opened, but there has been blank so far that shows up as being convincing to change the outcome of the election.
Raffensperger also hit back at accusations of widespread fraud, saying those that perpetuate them “are exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims, half-truths, misinformation and, frankly, they're misleading the president as well, apparently.”
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The secretary of state's office is studying a maintained statement from a Republican official in Gwinnett County, in Atlanta's northeastern suburbs, that says there were more absentee ballots than absentee ballot envelopes, Raffensperger said.
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"This is the kind of specific charge that our office can investigate and ascertain the truth," he said.
County election workers all over the state are now working on a recount of the presidential race that was demanded by the Trump campaign, and Raffensperger said he thinks they will finish by the Wednesday night deadline. Under state law, the losing candidate can demand a recount when the margin is less than 0.5%. Certified results showed Trump losing to Biden by 12,670 votes, or 0.25%.
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The recount, which is being done with scanners that read and tabulate votes, is the third time the votes in the presidential race are being counted in Georgia. After the initial count after Election Day, Raffensperger chose the presidential race for an audit required by state law. Because of the tight margin, he said, the audit required the roughly 5 million votes in that contest to be recounted by hand.
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Gov. Brian Kemp’s office reacted Monday to President Donald Trump’s calls to help him overturn Georgia’s election outcomes with a reminder that state law “prohibits the governor from interfering in the election.”
The Georgia Republican has grown a favorite target of Trump, who said Sunday he was “ashamed” that he supported him in 2018 and tweeted Monday that the “hapless” governor should use non-existent “emergency powers.”
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