State officials say they will not use any trick to help the president overthrow Joe Biden’s victory.
The Georgia governor will not agree to pressure from President Donald Trump to convene a special session of the state legislature to scrap the state’s election results, his deputy said.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan told CNN on Sunday that he and his boss, Governor Brian Kemp, “certainly would not move the goal posts at this point in the election”.
The statement comes after Trump reportedly called Republican Kemp on Saturday asking for his help in overturning the election results by convening a special session of the state legislature to allow the Republican-controlled panel to appoint voters who would vote the state results would override.
Trump has increasingly tried to make this long-term effort as his legal challenges and recounts have failed. On Saturday he mocked Kemp and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, also Republicans, for standing by their election results.
A hand count of all ballots cast in Georgia confirmed Biden’s victory in the state, which was confirmed on November 20. A subsequent recount, which Trump requested at the expense of state taxpayers, also showed that Biden is maintaining his lead.
“I voted for President Trump, I campaigned for him and unfortunately he didn’t win the state of Georgia,” said Duncan. “So, yeah, you know, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President on January 20th. The constitution is still in force. This is still America. “
“Anger and fear”
With Trump continuing to claim widespread fraud without evidence, and with many nationally elected Republican Party officials either tacitly or explicitly backing his attempts to reverse the results, it has been largely left to local election officials to defend the integrity of voting in their states.
Gabriel Sterling, a manager for the implementation of voting systems in Georgia, criticized Trump’s appearance on Sunday at a rally in support of two Republican candidates in a runoff race in the state Senate to determine which party controls the chamber.
In an interview with NBC, the election official dismissed Trump’s litany of allegations as “false” and “fueled anger and fear among his supporters”.
“And the hell I voted for him,” added Sterling. “The situation is getting a lot worse.”
In his interview on Sunday, Lt. Governor Duncan also joined a chorus of Republicans who warned that Trump’s attempts to undermine the election results in Georgia could backfire and deter voters from the party from voting.
“I worry that this continued spreading of the flames over misinformation puts us in a negative position on the January 5th runoff,” said Duncan. “The mountains of misinformation don’t help the process, they just hurt it.”
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