Georgians urged to ignore flap over Nov. 3 election and vote Tuesday

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By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service

ATLANTA — A top official in the Georgia secretary of state’s office pleaded Monday for voters worried about fraud during the Nov. 3 election not to stay home from Tuesday’s U.S. Senate runoffs.

Calling it “Anti-Disinformation Monday,” Gabriel Sterling, the state’s elections system manager, went through allegation after allegation lodged by President Donald Trump and his Republican allies surrounding the election and dismissed charges that President-elect Joe Biden stole Georgia’s 16 electoral votes from Trump in carrying the Peach State.

The president’s campaign to get the election results overturned reached a crescendo during the weekend when Trump spent an hour in a recorded phone conversation pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia results. Biden carried the state by 11,779 votes.

Sterling assured voters concerned about the fraud allegations stemming from the November election that Tuesday’s runoffs will yield legitimate results.

“Everybody’s vote is going to count. Everybody’s vote counted,” he told reporters during a news conference at the state Capitol. “If you care about the values and directions of the nation you want to see, it is your obligation to turn out and vote tomorrow, be you Democrat or Republican.”

Georgia voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to elect both of the state’s senators, with Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler defending their seats against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.

With control of the Senate at stake, interest has been unprecedented for a Georgia runoff election. More than three million voters already have cast their ballots early via absentee ballots or by in-person early voting, setting a record for a runoff in Georgia even before Election Day arrives, Sterling said.

Voter interest has been stirred up by a withering barrage of advertising by the four campaigns and allied groups.

“I’m sure Georgians are tired of TV ads, text messages, voice-mails and mail,” Sterling said. “It’s all going to end very soon, hopefully.”