Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of trying to “make it harder” for the state’s GOP Senate candidates to win.
“Why is Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger working so hard to add drop boxes and take other steps to make it harder for Republicans to win. Is he really that intimidated by Stacey Abrams?” Gingrich tweeted.
Why is Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger working so hard to add drop boxes and take other steps to make it harder for Republicans to win. Is he really that intimidated by Stacey Abrams?
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 13, 2020
The Republican Party filed a lawsuit in Georgia last week over the state’s absentee ballot drop boxes, arguing that state law does not allow the expanded use of drop boxes outside of the normal business hours of election offices.
The lawsuit also features multiple sworn statements from GOP poll monitors who claim they were not able to observe vote-counting in some of the state’s counties on Election Day.
“[Georgia Republican Party Chairman] David Shafer and the Georgia GOP need to stop passing the buck for failing to deliver Georgia for [President] Trump and actually focus on getting out the vote in January,” Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said in a statement about the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to limit the collection of ballots at drop boxes to office hours and access to real-time or near-real-time video surveillance footage of all drop boxes throughout the state.
“The secretary of state’s office has repeatedly instructed county elections officials to ensure access for observers,” Fuchs said. “We have also made it clear that absentee ballot drop boxes need to be monitored 24/7.”
Abrams, a former state legislator who unsuccessfully ran to unseat Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018, has spearheaded Georgia’s expansion of the vote-by-mail effort amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Runoff elections between Republican incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are set to take place on Jan 5. With Republicans currently holding an advantage of 50 seats to the Democrats’ 48 in the Senate, the races will determine which party controls the chamber when the new Congress convenes in late January.
