Monday, November 16, 2020

Republicans Stopping At Nothing in Georgia

There is no end to Republican corruption, from the top down. It is a party deeply anathema to democracy, to proportional representation, to voting rights, to vote counting, and to the truth. It is -- there's no other way to put it -- currently seeking to destroy American democracy in order to stay in power. 

From the Washington Post
"Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that he has come under increasing pressure in recent days from fellow Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who he said questioned the validity of legally cast absentee ballots, in an effort to reverse President Trump’s narrow loss in the state.

"In a wide-ranging interview about the election, Raffensperger expressed exasperation over a string of baseless allegations coming from Trump and his allies about the integrity of the Georgia results, including claims that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of Georgia’s voting machines, is a “leftist” company with ties to Venezuela that engineered thousands of Trump votes to be left out of the count.

"The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read: “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”

“Other than getting you angry, it’s also very disillusioning,” Raffensperger said of the threats, “particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle. Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say.” He said he reported the threats to state authorities.

"The pressure on Raffensperger, who has bucked his party in defending the state’s voting process, comes as Georgia is in the midst of a laborious hand recount of about 5 million ballots. President-elect Joe Biden has a 14,000-vote lead in the initial count.

"The normally mild-mannered Raffensperger saved his harshest language for Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), who is leading the president’s efforts in Georgia and whom Raffensperger called a “liar” and a “charlatan.”

"Collins has questioned Raffensperger’s handling of the vote and accused him of capitulating to Democrats by not backing allegations of voter fraud more strongly.

"Raffensperger has said that every accusation of fraud will be thoroughly investigated, but that there is currently no credible evidence that fraud occurred on a broad enough scale to affect the outcome of the election...."

3 comments:

Entropic man said...

When an election takes place, candidates are expected to campain.

Underneath,there is normally an unspoken mutual respect for the voting process and an acceptance of the result.

You don't appreciate how important that respect is, until it's gone.

David in Cal said...

EM - Yes, there is supposed to be mutual respect for the voting process. But, the voting process must deserve mutual respect.

From what I've read, there was a big amount of various frauds. I don't expect Biden's victory to be overturned. However, it's essential that effective steps be taken to prevent a repeat. If we can't rely on on the accuracy of the voting counting, then what kind of democracy do we have?

Cheers

Entropic man said...

David in Cal

I'm in Northern Ireland, so I've no inside information, but I've been following the stories.

So far I've only seen three official reports of voter fraud. One was a sworn affidavit by a postal worker, which he retracted when the investigators arrived.

The other two were voters arrested for trying to vote twice, both Republicans.I

Your system reminds me of what NI operates. There was a time when people were encouraged to vote early and often, and the dead rose up and vote.

Since the Good Friday Agreement the system has been tightened. Last time I voted I had to pass two independent identity checks and two different party workers ticked off that I had voted on their copies of the electoral register.

All stages of the count are transparant, organised by independent organisations with pool watchers and candidates on the floor. Counts are manual and you can see the piles of counted voting papers piling up.

Fraud has been engineered out of our system, as it has been engineered out of your system.