(Headline USA) Amid continuing Republican attacks to ensure the legitimacy of the presidential vote in Georgia, the state House speaker is proposing that the legislature select its own Electoral College delegates.
Republican House Speaker David Ralston said Thursday that he will seek a state constitutional amendment to change how Georgia’s secretary of state is chosen.
With two-thirds approval needed by both the House and Senate, such a move is unlikely, particularly with Democrats signaling immediate opposition. If it were to pass, a majority of voters would decide the question in the next even-numbered year.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is being savaged by members of his own party, including broadsides from President Donald Trump and calls for his resignation by U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
The senators are locked in contests with Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for control of the U.S. Senate in a Jan. 5 runoff election.
“In a clear power grab, Ralston and the Trump campaign want to give the General Assembly the power to select winners of elections and violate the will of the people,” Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said.
The Constitution grants state legislatures, not voters, the power to choose Electoral College delegates.
Ralston said he was reacting to what he felt was Raffensperger’s unresponsiveness, saying the secretary has “chosen to be on his own” and that being accountable to lawmakers would “bring a closer focus.”
“The people feel like they’re being excluded by that office and they are focusing their frustrations on the members of the General Assembly,” the Blue Ridge Republican said in a news conference. “I’m getting emails, messages and phone calls not only from people in my House district but from people all over the state of Georgia.”
The attack by the most powerful leader in the General Assembly is yet another sign that Raffensperger is likely to find his office and power under siege in the legislative session that begins in January.
Raffensperger was already on the outs with the speaker over his decision to send absentee ballot applications to every active Georgia voter before the June primary election.
On Thursday he also cited discontent with Raffensperger’s decision to settle a lawsuit over how the state verifies signatures on absentee ballots without consulting the General Assembly, as well as a refusal by Raffensperger and his subordinates to appear at a House hearing Thursday.
In the morning, Trump’s legal team, led by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, provided evidence to show widespread voter fraud in Georgia.
In the afternoon, a number of Republican poll watchers and election monitors testified to procedural irregularities in some county election offices. A number of those county-level issues are under investigation by Raffensperger’s office.
Gabriel Sterling, the implementation manager for Georgia’s new voting system, tweeted Thursday that the secretary of state’s office had been advised not to appear because of ongoing lawsuits.
“We were advised by our attorneys not to attend because of pending litigation,” Sterling tweeted “They invited the Giuliani team which is pushing continuing disinformation. That disinformation is endangering lives.”
Fuchs said that once the litigation is over, Raffensperger’s office “would be happy to testify and answer all of the committee members’ questions.”
Fair Fight, a voting rights group founded by unsuccessful 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, took immediate aim at Ralston’s proposal.
“RETWEET if you believe Georgians — not politicians — should choose their Secretary of State. (Speaker Ralston said otherwise today, and he was apparently not kidding…),” the group tweeted.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
