Georgia Election Official On Threats Of Violence: ‘It Has To Stop’
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.
Brynn Anderson / AP Photo
This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. The article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy.
One of Georgia’s top election officials is condemning President Trump and the state’s Republican senators for not speaking out against violence after a Georgia election worker was threatened.
This as the state is wrapping up a recount of its presidential ballots requested by the Trump campaign, the third time ballots have been counted.
“Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop,” said Gabriel Sterling, voting system manager for the Secretary of State’s office.
Republican lawmakers, including Georgia’s senators and conservative pundits, have continued to make unfounded claims that the election was stolen. Sterling and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have held regular press conferences to dispute these claims and provide transparency into the process.
Sterling, a Republican, said Tuesday that he had had police stationed at his own home for protection. He said that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, and his wife had received death threats. And he referenced reports that Trump attorney Joe DiGenova made a statement calling for former cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs to be shot for defending the integrity of the election.
“This has all gone too far,” Sterling said.
But he said the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was a noose left outside the door of a voting machine technician in his twenties in Gwinnett County.
The accompanying note said the technician should be “hung for treason” for his role in the election.
Gwinnett Police Department did not have a comment yet on any investigation.
“I took a higher-profile role, I get it,” Sterling said. “This kid just took a job. He just took a job. I can’t begin to explain the level of anger I have over this.”
Earlier this month, an election worker in Fulton County had to go into hiding after receiving death threats.
Sterling called on the president and Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to stop instigating these acts.
“Be the bigger man here, step in and tell your supporters, ‘don’t be violent, don’t intimidate,’” Sterling said.
Sterling also said that it appears the President lost the state of Georgia, but he encourages the president and his followers to pursue every legal avenue to contest the election.
“What you don’t have the ability to do – and you need to step up and say this – is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence,” Sterling said. “Someone’s going to get hurt. Someone’s going to get shot. Someone’s going to get killed.”
Georgia is scheduled to complete its recount of the presidential election on Wednesday.
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