Georgia’s top election official promises secure election

Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Monday promised that Tuesday’s election would be safe and accurate. Voters should ignore claims of voter fraud or compromised election integrity, he said, characterizing them as false rumors spread by right-wing extremists. He also urged voters not to play into the hands of America’s adversaries by fostering distrust among themselves as U.S. citizens. 

“Here in Georgia, it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat,” he told reporters during a speech at the Capitol building in Atlanta.

Did he provide reasons why the election would be secure? Raffensperger explained that following the last presidential election, his office twice audited the state’s registered voter lists. Earlier this year, Georgia election officials found 20 cases where it had to expel voters from the rolls and refer the cases to local district attorneys for prosecution. He added that the election systems were secure and that the election workers in the state were ready to do their jobs come election day.

Did he mention anything about that one video? The FBI on Friday identified a video depicting individuals who claimed to be from Haiti bragging about voting with fake identification cards in multiple counties in Georgia. The day before the FBI addressed the video, Raffensperger was already calling the video fake, saying it was likely the work of a foreign power. Raffensperg again mentioned the video in his Monday speech. He insisted the claims of the video were false and that no such voter fraud was occurring, he said.

Dig deeper: Listen to Paul Butler and Harrison Watters’ report on The World and Everything in It podcast about social media and election disinformation.