Georgia Sec of State Speaks Out: Lindsey Graham Implied That I ‘Look Hard and See How Many Ballots You Can Throw Out’

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger appeared on CNN Monday night to talk about the attacks he’s gotten from fellow Republicans and to clarify a stunning claim he made about his conversation with Senator Lindsey Graham.

In a new Washington Post interview, Raffensperger claimed that Graham suggested he exclude legal ballots:

In their conversation, Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state’s signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures, according to Raffensperger. Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said.

Raffspenger said he was stunned that Graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. Absent court intervention, Raffensperger doesn’t have the power to do what Graham suggested, as counties administer elections in Georgia.

“It sure looked like he was wanting to go down that road,” he said.

Raffensperger elaborated to Wolf Blitzer, who started by asking him what exactly Graham told him.

“He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters,” Raffensperger said. “I got the sense it implied that then you could throw those out, if you look at the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures. So that’s the impression that I got.”

He went on to explain they have signature matching in place in the state and said, “We feel confident the election officials have done their job.”

Blitzer noted Graham’s denial as he asked Raffensperger again about what exactly they discussed.

“Just an implication that ‘look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out,'” Raffensperger said. “And I think that they’re looking at that as part of a court case. And one actually was subsequently filed, wasn’t it?”

You can watch above, via CNN.

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