Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., speaks to supporters during a campaign event at the Flying Machine restaurant in Lawrenceville, Ga. Hice, one of the nation’s preeminent electoral deniers, is running for Georgia’s secretary of state.
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Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., speaks to supporters during a campaign event at the Flying Machine restaurant in Lawrenceville, Ga. Hice, one of the nation’s preeminent electoral deniers, is running for Georgia’s secretary of state.
Alyssa Pointer for NPR
People share what they’ve heard alongside burgers, onions, and fried chicken salad. Something “crooked” is going on across the country.
In California, for example, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom didn’t actually win the election convened last year by 3 million votes reported.
“They found the ballot boxes months later, all for the other guy,” someone whispered.
The TV on the bar at the Flying Machine restaurant in Lawrenceville, Ga., was switched to Fox News, and Republicans gathered to talk about what they’ve been talking about for most of the past year and a half: voter fraud .
DeKalb County Republican Party Chairman Marci McCarthy speaks during a campaign event for Hice at the Flying Machine restaurant in Lawrenceville, Ga.
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DeKalb County Republican Party Chairman Marci McCarthy speaks during a campaign event for Hice at the Flying Machine restaurant in Lawrenceville, Ga.
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“How many feel that the 2020 election is a bit sketchy?!” asked DeKalb County GOP President Marci McCarthy to cheer. “Everyone should raise their hands!”
The restaurant event was the 12th and final stop on a three-day “electoral integrity” tour led by one of the nation’s preeminent election deniers, Representative Jody Hice, R-Ga, done.
Hice protests the 2020 election results at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, just hours after it was stormed by a violent pro-Trump mob.
And now, the former pastor is running to oversee voting in Georgia as secretary of state.
“If the sacred trust of the voice of the people is violated or violated, then we as a republic are in serious, serious trouble,” Hice told the crowd at Flying Machine. “And I trust with all my heart that has been broken in Georgia in this last election cycle.”
Downtown Lawrenceville, Ga.
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Downtown Lawrenceville, Ga.
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There has never been evidence to support that claim. No major or widespread problems related to the 2020 election were detected anywhere in the United States, and paper ballots in Georgia were recounted multiple times, including once by hand in the audit to reduce risk.
However, according to recent polls, a majority of Republican voters nationwide still believe there is a problem. That’s why the incumbent in the Georgia secretary of state race, Brad Raffensperger, is currently facing several key Republican opponents.
On the back of Hice’s campaign posters, there is a cowboy boot and the words “Boot Brad.”
Surrounded by his own party
A soft-spoken former engineer, Raffensperger did not enter politics until he was in his 50s. He was elected to his first term as secretary of state in Georgia in 2018, and less than three years later he received the One phone call changed his life.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Dalton, Ga.
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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Dalton, Ga.
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“All I want to do is this – I just want to get 11,780 votes,” said former President Donald Trump, Ask effectively Raffensperger overturned the Georgia election results in his favor.
Secretary refused. “Oh, Mr. President, the challenge you have is that your data is wrong,” said Raffensperger.
But experts worried that vote-rejecting candidates like Hice would be more willing than Raffensperger have dented voters’ will in future races, given their willingness to spread disinformation about voting. nominate.
One NPR . Analysis found that there are at least 20 such Republican candidates in secretary of state races around the country this year.
Franita Tolson, an expert in election law at the University of Southern California, said: “The reason Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election failed is because there are state officials who refuse to substantiate the claims. his about fraud”. “These people are really gatekeepers.”
Hice outside a campaign event in Lawrenceville, Ga.
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Hice outside a campaign event in Lawrenceville, Ga.
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Hice told NPR in an interview that he thought it was appropriate for Trump to call Raffensperger after the election. And he declined to answer whether he would have reacted differently to Trump’s request.
“The President, from the way I listened to it, made it clear [to Raffensperger]”There are glaring issues in this election and do your job and investigate,” said Hice. “It’s a reasonable request.”
In the past 15 months since that call, Raffensperger, the chief election official in Georgia, has spent nearly every day correcting misinformation Trump cited when he made his request.
During the call, for example, Trump falsely stated that thousands of people who died voted in Georgia in 2020.
“There are four. It’s one, two, three, four. Not 4,000,” Raffensperger said at a Rotary Club Q&A he attended last week in Dalton, Ga.
Downtown Dalton, Ga.
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Downtown Dalton, Ga.
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At such events, Raffensperger doesn’t speak up or really show much emotion. It’s a stark departure from Hice’s rant about voter fraud, which Raffensperger says is by design.
Republicans in 2020, he said, were “overwhelmed” and polarized about the voting by politicians like Trump, leading to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Just a few weeks before that riot, an employee of Raffensperger warning in a press conference that someone “will be killed” due to misinformation surrounding the election.
“Our entire society gasped and realized that [Jan. 6] Raffensperger said in an interview with NPR is a bridge too far. We must have respectful, fact-based conversations. I think when we do that, I think we can start moving forward. “
Raffensperger speaks to people after a Rotary Club meeting where he is a guest speaker, at the Mack Gaston Community Center in Dalton, Ga.
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Raffensperger speaks to people after a Rotary Club meeting where he is a guest speaker, at the Mack Gaston Community Center in Dalton, Ga.
Alyssa Pointer for NPR
Another kind of race
When Raffensperger was first elected secretary of state, the position was still seen as a sleepy, bureaucratic one. Many, if not most, voters across the country cannot name the person holding office in their state.
But 2020 has turned the voting community upside down. Adrienne Jones, professor of political science at Morehouse University, said: “Raffensperger has become a household name and now more than ever people need to pay attention to favorable voting races.
“You need a game plan. You need to know what the secretary of state is. … You need to know who the judges are,” she said. “It has to become a more active, full-body engagement.”
One sign that people are feeling urgent is money.
The Georgia race, and the secretary of state races in other states, are flooded with campaign donations in a way they’ve never been before, according to ongoing analysis from Brennan Justice Center.
Hice leads the Georgia sector with $1.6 million raised to date, according to analysis by the Brennan Center.
It’s a good thing voters are paying attention, says Larry Norden, senior director of election and government programs at the Brennan Center.
But he is also worried about the existing stakes that are placed on these types of races, considering most voters need to trust election results for a democracy to work, and not every candidate. can also win.
“The treatment of election officials,” said Norden, “and especially the secretaries of state, is not just the referee … but actually the players on the team can tilt the pitch this way. or otherwise, not good for American democracy.”
