COVINGTON, Ga. — During a visit to Bridgestone Golf in Covington to announce Georgia’s top ranking for doing business, Gov. Brian Kemp was pressed with questions regarding Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the hand recount of ballots cast in the presidential election.
Raffensperger authorized Wednesday, Nov. 11, a hand recount of the state’s Nov. 3 General Election results days after Republican U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler called for the the secretary’s resignation.
Perdue and Loeffler called Raffensperger’s management of the election “an embarrassment” that lacked “transparency and uniformity in the counting process,” but cited no evidence of fraud or improper ballot counting. The Secretary of State’s office has pledged to investigate any credible allegations that may arise.
Raffensperger formally called for the recount as part of a regular audit of the election results, which were poised to be done via an electronic sampling of ballots. Instead, Raffensperger changed the process under emergency powers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, every county elections boards in Georgia has until the certification deadline of Nov. 20 to count by hand every in-person, mail-in and provisional ballot cast in the election.
When asked about the situation, Kemp said he understood the concern surrounding the election results and that the fear of fraud was common in every election. The governor and former secretary of state said Raffensperger has made the recount process “clear.”
“Well look, he said he’s not resigning so that’s a moot point now,” Kemp said. “I think he’s made it clear the process we have before (us), so I think that we all as Georgia citizens — no matter which side of the aisle you're on — should embrace that. Let’s let that happen and let the chips fall where they may.
“People just want to make sure we have integrity in our elections, and I think the steps that (Raffensperger are taking) is going to do that.”
Democratic challenger Joe Biden led President Donald Trump by about 14,000 votes out of nearly 5 million cast in Georgia, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
