Accountable.US Endorses Legislation to Create Supreme Court Ethics Accountability
Biden Land Rule Restores Balance to Management of Public Resources
Financial Committee Republicans Put Big Bank Donors Before Consumers in Vote to Block Credit Card Late Fee Cap
5th Circuit Judge Willett Poised to Decide His Own Financial Conflicts Are Fine in U.S. Chamber Lawsuit Against CFPB Credit Card Rule
The Biggest Public Lands Oil Drillers Boost CEO Pay And Shower Shareholders With Dividends; Cry Foul Over Biden Administration Improving Accountability
Site Menu

Accountable.US Calls on Senate to Investigate Troubling Request to Georgia Elections Officials by Lindsey Graham Amid Republican Attempts to Undermine Election Results

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – After reports that Senator Lindsey Graham allegedly attempted to pressure Georgia’s top elections official and “appeared to suggest that [Georgia’s secretary of state] find a way to toss legally cast ballots,” government watchdog Accountable.US called on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate the troubling, potentially illegal actions from Senator Graham. In addition, Accountable.US submitted a public records request to government entities in Georgia for any communication with Senator Graham, his office, or the Trump administration regarding the ongoing recount and possible vote-tampering crusade. 

“In his continued pandering to President Trump and outright refusal to accept reality, Senator Graham is engaging in a blatant effort to sabotage the results of an election and throw legally cast votes out the window,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “Nothing less than a thorough, official investigation into this appalling behavior is acceptable. We can’t allow President Trump, Senator Graham, or anyone else to continue holding our government hostage in their futile attempts to negate the president’s more than 5-million-vote election loss.” 

In spite of formal ethics complaints already lodged against him just weeks ago for soliciting campaign contributions in a federal building in direct violation of Senate rules, greater scrutiny into Senator Graham’s potential interference is warranted. President Trump and Senate Republicans have continued to push election disinformation:  

  • Donald Trump, per CNN: “Trump repeatedly attacked the validity of the election results, tweeting that this was a ‘RIGGED ELECTION,’ a ‘Rigged and Corrupt Election’ and a ‘Rigged Election Hoax.’ He also tweeted that this was the ‘most fraudulent Election in history’ and that the results are ‘fake.’”
     
  • Mitch McConnell: “In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted. The process should be transparent or observable by all sides and the courts are here to work through concerns. … President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.”
     
  • Roy Blunt: “The president wasn’t defeated by huge numbers. In fact, he may not have been defeated at all.”
     
  • Josh Hawley: “I think that’s totally fair game. He can go out and make his argument.”
     
  • Ted Cruz: “The media does not get to select our President. The American people decide who the President is, and we need to make sure all legal votes are counted. With serious disputes in multiple states, we must allow the legal process to move forward.” 

See Accountable.US’s records requests here and here. 

BACKGROUND

Georgia’s Recount, Led by the Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Is Expected To Conclude Late Wednesday Without Any Major Change To the Election Results in the State. “The [recount] counting is expected to wrap up this week, and elections officials have reported few problems aside from the error in Floyd County, which is located in northwestern Georgia and voted heavily for Mr. Trump. Democrats said the recount had so far resulted in no substantive changes, at least none that would affect the lead currently enjoyed by Mr. Biden. […] The extraordinary, labor-intensive effort to recount every vote in every one of Georgia’s 159 counties began Friday morning, and counties have until late Wednesday, just before midnight, to complete the work. As of Monday evening, 4.3 million ballots had been recounted, according to the secretary of state’s office, out of just under five million cast.” [New York Times, 11/16/20] 

Raffensperger Confirmed on CNN that Senator Lindsey Graham Implied Throwing Out Ballots. On CNN with Wolf Blitzer, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said, “He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters and I got that the sense that implied that then you could throw those out […] Just the implication that ‘look hard and see how many ballots you can throw out,’ and I think that they’re looking at that as part of a court case.” [CNN, 11/16/20] 

President Trump Called Georgia’s Recount a “Scam, Waste of Time.” “Doing a great job in Georgia. Their recount is a scam, means nothing. Must see fraudulent signatures which is prohibited by stupidly signed & unconstitutional consent decree. @BrianKempGA” [Twitter, 11/15/20]  

Even with the Discovery of 2,600 Uncounted Votes in Floyd County, Trump Could Only Gain Up to 800 Votes in His 14,000 Vote Gap. “A recount in Georgia’s presidential race found more than 2,600 ballots in Floyd County that hadn’t originally been tallied, likely helping President Donald Trump reduce his 14,000-vote deficit to Joe Biden. Trump could gain nearly 800 net votes from the discovered ballots. There were 1,643 new votes for Trump and 865 for Biden.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/16/20] 

###

back to top