‘Retribution’: Raffensperger Says Provision Stripping Him of Power a Result of Election Aftermath
A provision in Georgia’s new election bill is stripping Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of some power he holds over elections. He believes it is a result of the fallout of the 2020 election.
Removing Raffensperger as the chairman of the State Election Board, the provision is replacing him with an appointee to be chosen by the state Legislature, as the Washington Examiner reports.
He said on Wednesday, “I don’t support it. Obviously, the secretary of state has been the chair of the State Election Board since 1960, and in a moment of retribution, I was stripped of that.”
Raffensperger continued, “And now, you’ll have an unelected person. That’s an awful lot of power to give an unelected person of a very important board.”
The new law allows the board to involve itself in counties where officials have been unable to correct “long-term problems of lines, problems with processing of absentee ballots, and other challenges in administration.”
According to Raffensperger, he was not included in the process of finalizing the bill.
“We were not asked to really be part of it after what happened after the 2020 elections,” he said. “But now, here we are, and we’re now speaking about the good parts of the bill.”
The secretary of state said he “had an opportunity to weigh in” on the provision regarding the board and “our position on that was very clear.”
He continued, “But at the end of the day, that’s what got passed.”
Raffensperger explained the provision will “come to be looked at in future time as that was not really a very well-thought-out, well-reasoned measure because at the end of the day … the State Election Board chairman is not accountable to the voter.”
Former President Donald Trump blasted Raffensperger following the election for claiming the state had a “wildly successful and smooth election.”
He called Raffensperger an “enemy of the people.”
Trump later called on him to help “find” the votes he needed to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Raffensperger told the former president Georgia had to “stand by” their numbers and told him the numbers are “right.”
Last month, Trump endorsed a primary challenger to Raffensperger, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.).
you abused your power and you lost your power, shut up and quit crying.
nobody gave you the authority to change election law in the middle of an election
Good to see that your readers still live in a fantasy world. Not sure how many times Trump’s lies will be proven wrong before folks accept the truth. But I guess QAnon rules with your readers.
you haven’t proven any of them wrong yet. but your claims about GA election laws have been disproven
Is that in your arrogant opinion? How’s Biden doing? Obviously you support him. Now THATS a “fantasy world”
It is only natural that Raffensperger would say it is retribution since he screwed up the election process. He is mad that a Georgia citizen will replace him…..besides all criminals say they are innocent.
Murderers who are duly sentenced to DEATH for their crimes, also claim retribution. Sadly, instead of a “follow the money” investigation of Sec. of State Raffensperger, he gets his hands slapped, being relieved of his role as the Chair of the State Election Board. He should be wearing an orange prison jump suit, serving hard time for his unconstitutional acts to remove all mail voting safe guards!
Raffy, as you DEMONRATS love to say, “Elections have consequences”. As we Conservatives love to say, “Yes, they do and you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet”.
You earned this stripping of authority. I believe you should have been impeached/ousted/removed from office for overstepping your authority undermining a national election especially because of the horrific national/international ramifications of this illegal POTUS’ installation.
Politics as usual. This is why the Dems are still afraid of Trump.
yes that is an awful lot of power. you abused it to get the outcome you wanted.
guess maybe you should have done your job and followed the law, not make it up as you go along.
just like the others you thought you could use the pandemic to grab power and do what you wanted