Democrats and political observers were quick to condemn the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, after it was reported that he pressured Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to exclude ballots in the state’s presidential recount.
In a tweet, Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar called the alleged approach “insane and illegal”.
Hakeem Jeffries, a US representative from New York, asked: “Did Lindsey Graham illegally pressure the Georgia secretary of state to rig the election after the fact? The justice department should find out.”
Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, said: “For the chairman of the Senate committee [judiciary] charged with oversight of our legal system to have reportedly suggested that an election official toss out large numbers of legal ballots from American voters is appalling.”
The South Carolina senator should resign his role as chair of the judiciary committee, he said.
Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Georgia by just under 15,000 votes, the first time the state had gone for the Democrat since 1996. A hand recount was ordered, and is expected to be completed by 20 November.
It is unlikely to change the result. If it did, the state’s 16 votes would not change the overall result in the electoral college, which Biden won 306-232. The threshold for victory is 270.
Nonetheless, Donald Trump refuses to concede defeat and continues to peddle debunked conspiracy theories regarding voter fraud and electoral irregularities which election officials from both parties have dismissed as baseless.
Raffensperger told the Washington Post Graham had indicated he should find ways to toss legal, mail-in ballots.
“It sure looked like he was wanting to go down that road,” he said.
Counties administer elections in Georgia, making Raffensperger powerless to do what Graham apparently wanted.
“It was just an implication of, ‘Look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out,’” Raffensperger told CNN.
Graham told the Hill Raffensperger’s claim was “just ridiculous” and that “if he [felt] threatened by that conversation, he’s got a problem.
“I actually thought it was a good conversation,” the senator said, adding that he was “surprised to hear [Raffensperger] characterized it that way.”
The senator later acknowledged he had spoken to election officials in several battleground states, part of a dwindling group of presidential allies who continue to push Trump’s baseless claims.
“Yeah, I talked to Arizona, I talked to Nevada,” Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Graham was forced to clarify that he spoke to Republican governor Doug Ducey after Katie Hobbs, the Arizona secretary of state clarified that she has not spoken to the senator that “this is false” that she had “not spoken with” the senator.
Raffensperger has faced mounting criticism from his own party, for defending the state’s electoral process. He told the Post he had received threatening messages from “people on [his] side of the aisle”, demanding that he “better not botch” the recount.
Georgia’s two senators, David Perdue and Kelley Loeffler, have called for his resignation. Both face tight run-off elections.
Graham’s alleged approach to Raffensperger prompted widespread criticism in the mainstream media.
Writing for the Post, the conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin asked why Graham “would need to know this information and decide directly to contact Raffensperger.
“Federal and/or state law enforcement should get to the bottom of this, requiring both parties to the conversation, and any witnesses, to preserve evidence. Graham’s actions have called into question his willingness to uphold the sanctity of elections.”
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