Just one day before two crucial Senate runoff elections that will determine the balance of power of the upper house, Georgia election officials are trying to tamp down concerns about the election’s integrity as they urge voters to cast ballots in the upcoming election.
Georgia’s voting systems manager, Gabriel Sterling, addressed a plethora of conspiracy theories regarding the state’s elections during a press conference on Monday.
“It’s whack-a-mole again. It’s Groundhog Day again,” Sterling said as he noted Georgia officials have repeatedly sought to smack down such claims.
He proceeded to run through a series of allegations he has seen online or heard from President Donald Trump’s legal and meticulously provided facts to disprove the allegations.
Here's part two of Georgia's Gabriel Sterling rounding out the lies about State Farm Arena's plumbing issue being staked and the video that — in the eyes of the President and Mayor Giuliani — showed there were secret ballots in suitcases pulled out when no one was looking (2/2) pic.twitter.com/iCkyhQ4Cbm
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 4, 2021
“This is all easily provably false. Yet the president persists,” Sterling said.
Watch the video below:
"This is all easily provably false. Yet the president persists." — Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling is holding a press conference in which he's debunking one Trump conspiracy theory after the next pic.twitter.com/snNBlrH31C
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2021
His press conference comes a day after The Washington Post published an excerpt of a call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
During the call, Trump can be heard asking Raffensperger about a series of conspiracy theories related to the election, which were quickly shot down.
Additionally, he asked about the parts of voting machines whether “they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts.”
However, Sterling on Monday strongly dismissed that as he said, “This is one I don’t fully understand. No one is changing parts or pieces out of Dominion voting machines. That’s not… I don’t even know what that means. That’s not a real thing. That’s not happening. The president mentioned it on the call. That’s again, not real.”
Finally, Sterling — a Republican — implored Georgians to vote in the January 5 runoffs, “Given the nature of the president’s statements and several other people who have been aligned with him previously … we are specifically asking you and telling you: Please turn out and vote tomorrow.”
“If you’re a Georgia voter, if you want your values reflected by your elected officials, I strongly beg and encourage you — go vote tomorrow,” he added.