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Donald Trump claims Georgia Senate runoffs are 'illegal and invalid' due to 'hasty changes' in voting process

The president made the shocking claim in a series of tweets even as reports said the Democrats were seeing an advantage in early voting

Less than a month ago, President Donald Trump asked supporters of the Republican Party in Georgia to back the party's two candidates in the upcoming Senate runoff elections that will be key in determining who controls the chamber next. At a rally in Valdosta, he also tried to convince the supporters that the presidential election in the Peach State was compromised so that the general trust in the electoral system gets rattled. Some of Trump’s sympathizers, on the other hand, even asked the supporters to stay away from the polls. GOP incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue will lock horns with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, in the elections. 

On Friday, Jauary 1, 2021, the outgoing president also changed his tone and said on Twitter that the Georgia Senate races are illegal and invalid because of 'hasty' changes made to the “unconstitutional” voting process in the state in the lead-up to the elections that will take place on January 5. The GOP currently has a 50-48 lead over the Democratic Party in the Senate and if they lose both, the Dems will have an advantage despite a tie since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will have the tie-breaking vote. 

Trump said in a series of tweets: “Before even discussing the massive corruption which took place in the 2020 Election, which gives us far more votes than is necessary to win all of the Swing States (only need three), it must be noted that the State Legislatures were not in any way responsible for the massive....

“...changes made to the voting process, rules and regulations, many made hastily before the election, and therefore the whole State Election is not legal or Constitutional. Additionally, the Georgia Consent Decree is Unconstitutional & the State 2020 Presidential Election....

“...is therefore both illegal and invalid, and that would include the two current Senatorial Elections. In Wisconsin, Voters not asking for applications invalidates the Election. All of this without even discussing the millions of fraudulent votes that were cast or altered!”
 

Twitter blue-flagged the tweets over Trump’s charges that he is the actual winner of the 2020 presidential election and that the poll was affected by voter fraud. 

One of its messages read: “Election officials have certified Joe Biden as the winner of the US Presidential election.” The other said: “This claim about election fraud is disputed”. 

The Georgia runoffs are crucial for the GOP particularly after it lost the presidency and failed to flip the House despite the Dems losing quite a few seats. It will be facing a disaster if the supporters listen to the advice to stay away from the polls and allow the Democratic candidates to win. Did Trump’s tweets indicate that he is predicting adversity in Georgia?

Dems having early voting advantage in Georgia: reports

Trump’s angry tweets came following a report that the blue party was having an edge in early, in-person voting in the runoff contests. On Thursday, December 31, Fox News reported that 2.8 million Georgians had already cast their ballots with the Black voters constituting a larger percentage of the voters than that registered in the November election when Biden narrowly won the state to become the first Democrat to bag the Peach State after 28 years. Georgia-based Republican consultant Chip Lake told Fox News that “the early-voting numbers are certainly a little more favorable to Democrats than the early-voting data that we had in November”. 

“Republicans need to have a strong Election Day turnout on Tuesday. Election Day votes count the exact same as early votes. We had just under a million people vote on Election Day on Nov. 3,” Lake said, adding: “For Republicans to win these runoff races, I think it’s crucial that we need to have Election Day turnout at 800,000 votes or higher on Tuesday.” Besides, the turnout in the Democratic congressional districts has also been higher compared to that in the GOP ones. 

The top leaders from both parties were scheduled to canvass support for their respective candidates in Georgia over the next two days. While Harris will campaign in Georgia on Sunday, January 3, both Trump and Biden will be in the state on Monday, January 4, for campaigning.