Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Interview with Brad Raffensperger (R-GA)
Interview
Well, good evening, Anderson. I'm not an attorney. In fact, I'm right now I'm focused on securing elections and empowering job creators and preparing our team for next year's elections.
We are not focused on grievances of the past that some might bear.
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Well, that was the third time he had reached out and he mentioned that he wanted to have a call, the president wanted to have a call with myself, and so we had that call and I explained the facts of the election of 2020, and just really refuted all the allegations that were made. And, you know, that was two-and-a-half years ago. We're focused on the future. Obviously, some people are still living in the past.
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Yes. I've testified and I will continue to follow the law and follow the Constitution. And when compelled, I will provide, you know, the testimony and the facts of what happened in 2020.
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No. I've been very clear about that. I think that's misguided. These bad actors have been trying to sue their way with their failing candidates and lawyers have been trying to sue their way to success for the courts.
Go back to Stacey Abrams after 2018. She lost, claimed election mismanagement, and then look at 2020, Mr. Trump also filed lawsuits. None of it ever succeeded. But what it really did is it really then just created polarization and dissension, but eventually we won all of those cases.
And so we'll continue to make sure that voters in Georgia understand that this is really critical that they will be the ones making the decisions. The voters need to make the decision on who wins the election in Georgia.
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Well, in Georgia, there is a process that people want to push and try and keep him off the ballots. In fact, they tried to do that with Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and they were unsuccessful.
But what I've said is that people need to decide these issues. When you start removing people off the ballots, and the people don't get a chance to vote, it looks like you're tilting the field against them. And I think that's why we have an awful lot of angst and anger on both sides of the aisle right now. People feel like they're not being heard and feel like the system is rigged against them.
So let the people decide. It's the way it should happen.
I think not to let people have that vote taken away is really un- American. You think about 1776, think about today 9/11. Remembering the sacrifice that people had, over 3,000 people were killed, and then you know what that led to.
But the people that we were fighting against, they didn't believe in the rule of law. They didn't believe in the power of people voting. In America, the Americans make -- American citizens make the decisions. They get to choose who their next leaders.
And I have faith in the American electorate. I have faith in my Georgia voters.
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Well, I understand those legal arguments and you get two lawyers together and you'll get two different, maybe even three different opinions.
But at the end of the day, you know, we have a process in Georgia and at the end of the day, I am standing up for Georgia voters so Georgia voters have the opportunity to decide who they want to be their choice, who wins the presidential primary and then who actually wins in November 2024. Let the people decide.
I have great faith in the American voter. I have great faith in Georgia voters. Look at Governor Kemp and I, we won with landslide victories. We went and talked to voters.
I think people are looking for someone that's aspirational, positive, you know, a vision. They're not looking for someone that lives in the past that is, you know, running around with a retribution tour.
So I think at the end of the day, have faith in the American people.
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Well as Secretary of State I've been very clear, I don't endorse candidates, but I have been also very clear that what I'm looking for just like that young singer, that kind of, you know, set the world on fire. He was born in -- he wrote "Rich Men North of Richmond." He said he's born in 1983. He's never really had a great aspirational president since he'd been born. That's 1993.
I think he is a conservative. I'm looking for the next Reagan, and probably the other side, they're looking for something different. But I hope that we find that aspirational leader and hope it's, you know, conservative leadership and I think that's how we win races, someone that can cast a positive vision that is really talking about pocketbook issues. How do you improve the life of the average working day American every day so they have a better job and a better future?
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Well, we're really fortunate that no matter how you vote in Georgia now, we've secured the vote that we have photo ID for all forms of voting, secure the vote -- we have secure absentee voting with photo ID.
Just like early person voting, we have 17 days of early voting, and we probably say about 60 to 65 percent of all voters vote early, 30 percent on election day, about five, six percent vote absentee. No matter how you vote, it's photo ID based, and we think that's good.
Georgia right now has the cleanest voter rolls in the entire nation and we clean up our voter rolls objectively. When people move away, we follow them, and we track that so we can remove them objectively.
And then we make sure that we have plenty of opportunities to vote. So it's never been easier to vote in Georgia and we recognize, it is as one of the top states in the country for election security, accessibility, and fair and honest voting, and I'm really proud of that. I'm proud of my fellow Georgians.
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Thank you.
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