Statement by Common Cause Georgia Executive Director Aunna Dennis

Georgians deserve to have confidence in our elections.

In the past few months, supporters of a losing candidate have tried hard to discredit our elections. Their efforts led to the recounting of presidential election results – three times – and to the bevy of bills now pending that would make it harder for Georgians to vote in future elections.

News that President Trump called Secretary of State Raffensperger on January 2nd, urging him to “find 11,780 votes” does not help anybody have confidence in our state elections office. That phone call is now part of the impeachment trial underway in the US Senate.

News of that call broke more than a month ago. For a month, it seemed no one was interested in investigating the legality of that phone call – other than possibly the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.

But yesterday, Secretary Raffensperger’s office announced that it would investigate the phone call, and that Georgia’s Attorney General would be responsible for “any further legal efforts.”

This is a recipe for further confusion and cynicism, not more confidence.

Secretary Raffensperger was part of the phone call. He told the world that he and his family voted for Trump. If he runs this investigation, how can Georgians view it as impartial?

Attorney General Chris Carr chairs the Republican Attorney General’s Association. The Association’s 501(c)(4) arm, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, was listed as a sponsor of the January 6th rally that devolved into an attack on the US Capitol. Press reports reveal that the organization sent robocalls urging recipients to join the “march to the Capitol building.” If he leads the “legal aspects” of this investigation, how can Georgians view it as reliable?

Any investigation run by interested parties is only going to add to the problem, not begin to fix things.

Instead, Georgians need an independent investigation.

Common Cause Georgia calls on Secretary Raffensperger and Attorney General Carr to immediately refer the investigation to the federal Department of Justice, and then to cooperate with that investigation.