I call on all fair minded Twebbers to help prosecute Lindsey Graham for election fraud.
Since narrowly losing Georgia to Joe Biden, President Donald Trump has promoted baseless claims of voter fraud in a desperate effort to overturn the results of the election. So far, however, the only individual credibly accused of a fraudulent effort to steal the election is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. On Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—who, like Graham, is a Republican—told the Washington Postthat Graham asked him if he could throw out all mail ballots from counties with a high rate of signature mismatch. Raffensperger later clarified that he believed Graham wanted his office to throw out valid, legally cast ballots. The senator has contested this account.
Graham’s alleged request is unseemly and corrupt. But is it criminal? In short, yes, according to multiple Georgia election law experts. If Raffensperger’s account is true, there is virtually no doubt that Graham committed a crime under Georgia law. The more difficult question is whether Graham will suffer any consequences for his alleged offense. Because he is a Republican and a sitting U.S. senator, Graham likely won’t face an investigation, let alone prosecution, for conduct that would get almost anyone else arrested. It might be tempting to dismiss Graham’s alleged interference as unscrupulous strategizing blown out of proportion. But Georgia has a sordid history of prosecuting putative voter fraud involving far more innocent conduct. Graham does not deserve a pass simply because he is a wealthy white senator.
To understand why Graham’s alleged conduct was criminal, we have to look at what, exactly, he asked Raffensperger to do. He says Graham wanted him to toss out thousands of perfectly valid mail ballots, omitting them from the official count, because they were mailed from a county with unusually high rates of signature mismatch. (That means the signature on the ballot envelope doesn’t match the signature on file.) Signature mismatch disproportionately affects racial minorities, who lean Democratic overall, and Georgia is required to let voters cure a mismatched signature under a federal court order.
Had Raffensperger followed through with this request, he would’ve run afoul of several state laws. In Georgia, it is a crime for anyone, including election officials, to destroy a ballot. It is also a crime for anyone to falsify any records or documents used in connection with an election, or to place any false entries in such records. Another law explicitly criminalizes such conduct by elected officials, prohibiting the falsification of any document related to their public office.
Raffensperger did not follow through; instead, he blew the whistle. That doesn’t mean Graham is off the hook. Cathy Cox, the dean of Mercer University’s School of Law who previously served as Georgia’s secretary of state, told me that at least two other state laws encompass the senator’s alleged actions. The first bars “attempts to interfere with” an election official’s “performance of any act or duty.” By allegedly asking Raffensperger to falsify the vote count, Graham plainly sought to interfere with the secretary of state’s truthful certification of the election. The second law targets “criminal solicitation to commit election fraud.” An individual is guilty of this offense when he “solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause” another person to commit an election-related offense. Destroying ballots and falsifying voting records, Cox noted, both fall into that category. An individual is culpable regardless of whether they succeeded in inducing fraud.
These offenses carry serious consequences. Attempting to interfere with the performance of election duties is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment. Solicitation of election fraud in the first degree—which Graham allegedly committed by asking Raffensperger to falsify the vote count—is a felony. The minimum sentence is one year in prison; the maximum is three. In sum, Graham could face several years in prison if convicted of these crimes.
Since narrowly losing Georgia to Joe Biden, President Donald Trump has promoted baseless claims of voter fraud in a desperate effort to overturn the results of the election. So far, however, the only individual credibly accused of a fraudulent effort to steal the election is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. On Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—who, like Graham, is a Republican—told the Washington Postthat Graham asked him if he could throw out all mail ballots from counties with a high rate of signature mismatch. Raffensperger later clarified that he believed Graham wanted his office to throw out valid, legally cast ballots. The senator has contested this account.
Graham’s alleged request is unseemly and corrupt. But is it criminal? In short, yes, according to multiple Georgia election law experts. If Raffensperger’s account is true, there is virtually no doubt that Graham committed a crime under Georgia law. The more difficult question is whether Graham will suffer any consequences for his alleged offense. Because he is a Republican and a sitting U.S. senator, Graham likely won’t face an investigation, let alone prosecution, for conduct that would get almost anyone else arrested. It might be tempting to dismiss Graham’s alleged interference as unscrupulous strategizing blown out of proportion. But Georgia has a sordid history of prosecuting putative voter fraud involving far more innocent conduct. Graham does not deserve a pass simply because he is a wealthy white senator.
To understand why Graham’s alleged conduct was criminal, we have to look at what, exactly, he asked Raffensperger to do. He says Graham wanted him to toss out thousands of perfectly valid mail ballots, omitting them from the official count, because they were mailed from a county with unusually high rates of signature mismatch. (That means the signature on the ballot envelope doesn’t match the signature on file.) Signature mismatch disproportionately affects racial minorities, who lean Democratic overall, and Georgia is required to let voters cure a mismatched signature under a federal court order.
Had Raffensperger followed through with this request, he would’ve run afoul of several state laws. In Georgia, it is a crime for anyone, including election officials, to destroy a ballot. It is also a crime for anyone to falsify any records or documents used in connection with an election, or to place any false entries in such records. Another law explicitly criminalizes such conduct by elected officials, prohibiting the falsification of any document related to their public office.
Raffensperger did not follow through; instead, he blew the whistle. That doesn’t mean Graham is off the hook. Cathy Cox, the dean of Mercer University’s School of Law who previously served as Georgia’s secretary of state, told me that at least two other state laws encompass the senator’s alleged actions. The first bars “attempts to interfere with” an election official’s “performance of any act or duty.” By allegedly asking Raffensperger to falsify the vote count, Graham plainly sought to interfere with the secretary of state’s truthful certification of the election. The second law targets “criminal solicitation to commit election fraud.” An individual is guilty of this offense when he “solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause” another person to commit an election-related offense. Destroying ballots and falsifying voting records, Cox noted, both fall into that category. An individual is culpable regardless of whether they succeeded in inducing fraud.
These offenses carry serious consequences. Attempting to interfere with the performance of election duties is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment. Solicitation of election fraud in the first degree—which Graham allegedly committed by asking Raffensperger to falsify the vote count—is a felony. The minimum sentence is one year in prison; the maximum is three. In sum, Graham could face several years in prison if convicted of these crimes.
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