The Trump Campaign alleged that between 38,000 and over 45,000 illegal absentee ballot votes were cast in Georgia. According to their estimations, the campaign requested that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger do a complete audit on the absentee ballot envelope signatures.
The letter marked the campaign’s fifth petition filed to Raffensperger.
“It is not possible for you to accurately certify the results in the presidential race from the November 3, 2020 election until and unless there is a thorough audit of the Signatures, which we have now requested four times in writing prior to this request,” stated the letter.
The letter included an analysis that showed the mail-in ballot rejection rates decreased significantly from the 2018 midterms to the 2020 primaries and general election. According to the campaign’s independent analysis from a data expert, the rejection rate in 2018 was nearly 3.5 percent. In the 2020 primary election the rejection rate was about 1 percent, and in the 2020 general election rejection rate dropped to about .35 percent.
The campaign applied rejection rates from 2018 to the number of mail-in ballots accepted in the 2020 general election. From there, they estimated that anywhere from about 38,000 to 45,000 ballots should have been rejected. The letter noted that just under 5,000 ballots were rejected this year.
The letter then refuted Raffensperger’s previous claim that rejection rates for 2020 were in line with those in 2018. It pointed out that Raffensperger used the number of ballots mailed out to justify its claims, not the number of ballots cast – a 20 percent difference. It added that Raffensperger’s listed numbers of mail-in ballots cast and rejected for this year’s primary and general elections were incorrect.
“At the very least, these discrepancies raise serious concerns regarding the quality of data your office is using to make decisions, especially regarding your conclusions as to the correct number of votes cast in the presidential election,” stated the letter.
Neither of the audits undertaken by the state included a signature verification of absentee ballots.
Included with the letter were all previous letters from the campaign, an email to Raffensperger’s General Counsel about counties failing to conduct signature verification, and a legal brief with affidavits calling into question absentee ballots cast in the election.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden currently leads President Donald Trump by over 12,000 votes.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
