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Some Republicans Attack Georgia Votes, Provide No Evidence

Associated Press

   ATLANTA - Some Republicans renewed their attacks Monday on Democrat Joe
   Biden's lead over President Donald Trump in Georgia, with U.S. Sens.
   David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler taking the extraordinary step of
   calling for the resignation of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger,
   the state's chief elections officer and a fellowRepublican.

   Republicans laid out a strategy to investigate but still presented no
   evidence of large-scale voter fraud in the balloting, saying they were
   still looking into ways to overturn Biden's lead of 11,000 votes.

   Georgia is one front in a nationwide scramble by Trump forces to
   question his loss in multiple states.The Associated Press and other
   news organizations declared Biden the victor Saturday when he surpassed
   the 270 electoral votethresholdwith victories in Pennsylvania and
   Nevada. The AP has not yet called the presidential race for Georgia's
   16 electoral votes.

   Perdue and Loeffler offered no evidence and gave no specific examples
   of illegal votes or fraud, and their campaigns did not respond to
   requests for further comment.

   Raffensperger flatly declined to step down, saying in a statement,
   "That is not going to happen."

   Raffenspergersaid his office is investigating any specific reports of
   illegal votes, but officials don't expect to find any significant
   problems.

   "Does it rise to the numbers or margin necessary to change the outcome
   to where President Trump is given Georgia's electoral votes? That is
   unlikely," Raffensperger said.

   Elected in 2018by a statewide vote, Raffensperger has overseen the
   rollout of Georgia's new voting system, which features touchscreen
   machines that print paper ballots read by a scanner. After the
   coronavirus pandemic began, he strongly encouraged voters to vote by
   mail, despite criticism from other Republicans.

   Loeffler and Perdue, whobothface a Jan. 5 runoff against Democrats that
   will determine party control of the U.S. Senate, accused Raffensperger
   of "mismanagement and lack of transparency."

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