Democrat Stacey Abrams lost a legitimate election in Georgia for the governor’s seat. That truth doesn’t keep her or her supporters from claiming that voter suppression and other maneuvers really gave her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, the win.
Thankfully, we can look at facts to successfully dismiss their assertions.
Ari Berman, a writer for the leftist rag, Mother Jones, wrote a piece about the “tainted” election and shared it on social media.
1.5 million purged by Brian Kemp
53k registrations on hold
4.5 hour lines
214 polling places closed
Dems falsely accused of cyber crimes
Candidate overseeing own election
As @staceyabrams said, GA race was tainted by voter suppressionhttps://t.co/J5YD2QuiKY
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) November 16, 2018
The viral post has nearly 15,000 retweets, but his claims don’t match up with the truth. Thankfully, @AG_Conservative is stepping in to set the record straight.
AG has his own hobby: holding the media accountable. On his Patreon site, he lists the following as his mission.
Many of you may know me from Twitter. I have taken up a hobby of holding the media accountable for spreading misinformation and outright falsehoods because they refuse to police themselves.
I’d prefer that the media police themselves and save me the effort. However, since they refuse to do it, I figured I would create this outlet to collect the examples of media bias and misinformation that I regularly come across and correct.
In response to Ari Berman’s claims about the Georgia governor’s race, AG shared the following.
Claim #1 – 1.5 million purged by Brian Kemp
The “1.5 million purged” is the total number of voters that have been removed from the rolls since 2012. Many have been removed because they moved, committed felonies, died etc. The overwhelming majority of the rest were removed because of Georgia’s “Use it or lose it” law.
1 cont) This law was passed in 1997 by A Dem legislature and a Dem Governor in Georgia. Similar laws have been upheld by SCOTUS. It requires the rolls to be updated by removing voters that have not voted for some time and do not respond to contact from the state. For GA: pic.twitter.com/FoM3xc8RhQ
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) November 17, 2018
1 Cont) Worth noting that the reason there was a large spike in 2017 was that the legally required maintenance was not done in 2015. 3 state officials oversee this effort to prevent major errors. None of them are Brian Kemp.
Claim #2 – 53K registrations on hold
2) "53K registrations on hold"
These registrations were labeled pending, but that occurred because there was some discrepancy between their registration and their files. All of these voters could still vote w/ normal ballots as long as they provided ID at the polling place. pic.twitter.com/hkugdfYYcP
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) November 17, 2018
Claim #3 – 4.5 Hour lines
Yes, there were long lines at some polling locations. That happens on election day. GA does have early voting options. Local officials manage those place and it has little to do with the Secretary of State.
Claim #4 – 214 polling places closed
4) "214 polling places closed"
This is the total number of polling places closed across the state since 2012. Those places were consolidated with other locations to save money. Those decisions were made by local County officials to save money, and have 0 to do with Kemp. pic.twitter.com/JzGLLDxyUv
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) November 17, 2018
Claim #5 – Dems falsely accused of cyber crimes
I don't think Kemp's office handled the allegation in #5 well, especially given how close they were to the election, but almost all of the other examples were legitimate activities that had little to do with Kemp. Creation of a myth to suggest otherwise undermines our elections.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) November 17, 2018
In conclusion, AG says the following:
There is a high burden to justify claiming an election was stolen. Dems, included elected officials, have not met that burden and should be condemned for saying so without evidence. Stacey Abrams lost a legitimate election. Period.
This isn’t the first time AG has taken it upon himself to blow holes in assertions made by the media, and it won’t be the last. As he clearly shows, claims that are meant to show true cases of voter suppression are anything but that.
Far too many will read Berman’s bullet points and conclude that Abrams had the race stolen right out of her hands. In reality, the truth has everything to do with standard, lawful procedures that have been in place for years.
Abrams has accepted defeat but may never officially concede. Combine her graceless exit from the race with Berman’s fear-mongering, and you can plainly see that Democrats have a difficult time listening to the will of the people.
(Thanks, AG.)
Kimberly Ross is a senior contributor at RedState and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
The post Democrats Claim the GA Governor’s Race Was Stolen from Stacey Abrams. One Fact-Checker Completely Destroys That Theory. appeared first on RedState.