The Press in Georgia | A key state, conspirators and a vote under tension

(Griffin) Four years later, Roy McClain, Republican member of the Election Commission of Spalding County, Georgia, still refuses to recognize the validity of the results of the 2020 presidential election in this southern state.

“I don’t have enough information,” the shooting coach said after a recent commission meeting in Griffin, the rural county seat about 55 miles south of Atlanta. “If I could have more data and information, I might have a different opinion. »

Remarkably for an election official, Roy McClain does not lend credence to either the audit of the vote results or the hand count that confirmed Joe Biden’s victory by 11,779 votes in Georgia.

“If I put mold in the middle of a loaf of bread and I don’t let you look inside the loaf, you won’t know there is mold,” he said. it is justified in a pictorial way.

Roy McClain is obviously not the only Republican official to challenge the fairness of the 2020 election. According to a study published this month by the Center for Media and Democracy, his name appears on a list of at least 239 “election deniers » who could try to “overturn the results of the 2024 election” in eight key states^⁠1.

Of these, no less than 102 “deniers” supervise elections within the electoral commissions of these states or their counties. In addition to Roy McClain, also included in this group are Ben Johnson and James Newland, the two other Republican members who make up the majority of the Spalding County Election Commission.

The influence of the MAGA movement

Nevertheless: Dexter Wimbish, one of the two Democratic members of this commission, hesitates to describe the members of the majority as “deniers”.

“I don’t want to give to the MAGA movement [Make America Great Again] more influence than he already has,” he said in an interview at his spacious residence. “And I think that if the minority members of the Electoral Commission shouted from the rooftops that the Commission was infiltrated by electoral deniers, that would do more harm than good. »

That said, the criminal lawyer does not rule out the possibility that his Republican colleagues will band together to defy Georgia’s law if the results of the November election do not favor Donald Trump in this state which could determine the next occupant of the White House.

But, he acknowledged in the process, this scenario could be disrupted due to a new rule adopted last August by the Georgia State Election Commission.

This rule allows county election boards to conduct a “reasonable investigation” before certifying the results. According to its critics, the measure could be used to delay or block the certification of the results in Georgia.

“This rule originates from the 2020 presidential election. It originates from Donald Trump’s attempt to interfere in this election,” insisted Dexter Wimbish. Our governor made a political decision to create a quasi-administrative body that we did not need. Georgia’s secretary of state has always been responsible for ensuring compliance with election laws and investigating fraud. »

Trump’s “pit bulls”

That same Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, played a key role in protecting the integrity of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. On January 2, 2021, during a famous telephone call, this Republican elected official refused to give in to Donald Trump’s demand to “find 11,780 votes” and reverse the results of the election.

Brad Raffensperger thus personified the defense of democracy by electoral officials, all parties combined, after the 2020 election. Four years later, he still occupies the same position. But he must deal with a reality distorted by the false allegations of electoral fraud made by Donald Trump and his allies.

He was referring to the three Republican members of that commission who helped pass controversial new rules (one, approved Sept. 20, will require county election boards to count votes by hand, another obstacle potential for rapid certification of results).

These 3 Republicans – Janelle King, Rick Jeffares and Janice Johnson – are among the 239 “election deniers” identified by the Center for Media and Democracy. At the beginning of August, during a rally in Atlanta, Donald Trump praised the work of these “three people, pit bulls, who are fighting for honesty, transparency and victory”.

Since 2021, at least six county election boards have fallen under the thumb of the MAGA movement in Georgia. Similar takeovers have also occurred in seven other key states, according to Arn Pearson, director of the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive organization based in Wisconsin.

Litigation and delays ahead

“The guardrails of our democracy held strong in 2020, but election deniers and MAGA extremists have spent the past four years infiltrating election administration and leadership positions within the Republican Party in order to disrupt and to cast doubt on the results of the 2024 election,” he confided in an interview.

Arn Pearson doesn’t believe “election deniers” will succeed in blocking the certification of the 2024 election results.

But he fears they will succeed in “provoking litigation and delaying what should be a ministerial task while they and their allies brandish false claims of voter fraud, non-citizen voting and a stolen election.”

Ben Johnson, chairman of the Spalding County Election Commission, declined to answer questions from The Press. This Republican has already called Joe Biden an “illegitimate president” on Facebook and published messages on Twitter associating him with the QAnon conspiracy movement. “We are all Q,” he tweeted in 2021.

James Newland, vice-president of the Commission, also declined an interview request. However, this third member of the Republican majority alluded to the November election during a recent meeting.

“Holding an election involving 52,000 voters is a huge responsibility,” he said. It must be done well. There are no excuses. And Kim is the person who can do it. And I thank her. »

Spalding County Elections Supervisor Kimberly Slaughter’s name is also on the Center for Media and Democracy’s list of “election deniers.”

1. Check out the Center for Media and Democracy’s report on “election deniers” in eight key states