Top Ga. voting official slams threats on election officers, tells Trump, senators to condemn it: 'Has to stop'

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A top Georgia voting official on Tuesday in a fiery press conference decried threats against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the secretary's wife, and other elections officials and workers as the Trump campaign continues to fight the result of the presidential election in court. 

Georgia Voting Systems Implementation manager Gabriel Sterling, whose office is under the purview of the Georgia Secretary of State, made the passionate comments, saying repeatedly that the threats "have to stop." Representatives for Georgia Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue both condemned any threats following the comments, as did the Trump campaign. 

"It has all gone too far. All of it," Sterling said before referencing comments from Trump lawyer Joe DiGenova. "Joe DiGenova today asked for Chris Krebs, a patriot who ran CISA, to be shot. A 20-something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from an EMS to a county computer so he could read it."

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"It has to stop," Sterling said, visibly emotional. "Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions ... We need you to step up and if you're going to take a position of leadership, show some."

The Perdue campaign specifically said that it condemns any violence without reservations but maintained its criticism of how the presidential election was run in Georgia. 

"Senator Perdue condemns violence of any kind, against anybody. Period," Casey Black, a spokeswoman for Perdue, said in a statement. "We won’t apologize for addressing the obvious issues with the way our state conducts its elections. Georgians deserve accountability and improvements to that process — and we’re fighting to make sure the January 5th election is safe, secure, transparent, and accurate."

Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for Loeffler, called it "ridiculous" that Sterling suggested she was being irresponsible regarding threats. 

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"Like many officials, as someone who has been the subject of threats, of course Senator Loeffler condemns violence of any kind. How ridiculous to even suggest otherwise," Lawson said in a tweet. "We also condemn inaction and lack of accountability in our election system process—and won’t apologize for calling it out. Senator Loeffler will continue fighting to ensure we have a fair, trusted, and accurate election because the future of our country is at stake."

The Trump campaign also responded to Sterling's comments, according to the Washington Post.

"The campaign is focused on ensuring that all legal votes are counted and all illegal votes are not. No one should engage in threats or violence, and if that has happened, we condemn that fully," it said. 

Sterling continued to note that Raffensperger was being harassed by "caravans" driving by his home, that people have been trespassing on his property and that the secretary's wife was receiving "sexualized" threats. 

Perdue and Loeffler had previously called on Raffensperger to resign over his handling of the election, to which Raffensperger, a Republican, responded by saying he is "concerned about Republicans keeping the U.S. Senate" and recommended the senators "start focusing on" their campaigns. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

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"This is elections. This is the backbone of Democracy. And all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this," Sterling continued. "Yes, fight for every legal vote. Go through your due process. We encourage you. Use your First Amendment, that's fine. Death threats. Physical threats. Intimidation. It's too much. It's not right. They've lost the moral high ground to claim that it is."

Sterling claimed that the "straw that broke the camel's back" and upset him the most was the 20-something-year-old on the receiving end of threats. He said that while he and Raffensperger are in public positions, this individual "just took a job."

"Someone's gonna get hurt. Someone's gonna get shot. Someone's gonna get killed," Sterling said. "DiGenova who said for Chris Krebs to get shot is a former U.S. attorney. He knows better."

Gabriel Sterling, a top Georgia elections official speaks on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, during a news conference in Atlanta. On Tuesday Dec. 1, 2020, Sterling called on President Donald Trump to condemn supporters who have threatened violence against election officials. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

The Democratic campaigns for Georgia Senate seized on the comments from Sterling to attack their Republican rivals. 

"There is absolutely no place for violence in our democracy, and it is beyond time for Kelly Loeffler to put an end to the dangerous attacks she and President Trump are making on our elections - including members of her own party," Raphael Warnock, who is in a Jan. 5 runoff against Loeffler, said in a statement. "I again ask Senator Loeffler to join me in standing up for Georgia voters, our elections and to stop putting her own political interests ahead of Georgia."

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Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for Jon Ossoff, who is challenging Perdue in a runoff set for the same day, said that the Perdue campaign statement amounted to doubling "down on their undemocratic attacks on the election system."

Georgia has come under the spotlight in recent weeks not just because of the Trump legal challenges and its multiple recounts in the presidential election, but because of the Senate elections that will determine which party controls that body in 2021 and 2022. 

If both Ossoff and Warnock win, Democrats will hold a de facto majority, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to break ties on party-line votes. If Republicans win even one of the races, however, they will secure a majority for the next two years and have a significant say on the Biden administration's first-term agenda.