In Echo Of Trump, GA House Speaker Despairs That Coronavirus Vote-By-Mail Measures Would Help Dems

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 30: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the daily coronavirus briefing at the Rose Garden of the White House on March 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. The United States has updated its guideli... WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 30: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the daily coronavirus briefing at the Rose Garden of the White House on March 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. The United States has updated its guidelines to U.S. citizens to maintain current social distancing practices through the end of April after the number of reported coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths doubled to over 2,000 nationwide within two days. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R) said the quiet part out loud Wednesday, bashing the secretary of state’s move to mail out absentee ballot applications to the state’s registered voters because the higher voter participation “will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia.”

“Every registered voter is going to get one of these,” he added in an interview with FetchYourNews, a local news site. “This will certainly drive up turnout.”

Ralston echoed President Donald Trump in his sentiments, who Monday aired a similar fear about Democratic proposals like increasing vote by mail and same-day registration.

“The things they had in there were crazy,” Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”

Ralston, joined by U.S. Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, has been urging Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to delay the Georgia primary, scheduled for May 19, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Raffensperger, who already delayed the primary once, said he doesn’t have the authority to push it back further, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Democrats are calling for the election to go on as planned, but want the government to pay for postage on the absentee ballots.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R) also said that he lacks the power to move the election. He plans to institute a shelter-in-place order Thursday as the number of cases in the state has grown to 4,748, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Again, words you weren’t supposed to say out loud.

    At any rate, GOP voter suppression already speaks louder than words.

  2. Greed-Over-People Party and Mythomaniac Trump can tell the truth…on certain occasions - when pigs fly and when their re-election is threatened!

  3. “With any luck,” he added, “Congress will finally kill off the Postal Service before the voting and we can set up a couple of collection boxes, um, somewhere … maybe Yatesville.”

  4. Avatar for tao tao says:

    It’s a damn shame Republicans can not exist in a democracy.
    No great loss.

  5. Saying the quiet part with a megaphone.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

107 more replies

Participants

Avatar for paulw Avatar for rob_beatty_walters Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for fgs Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for sniffit Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for bonvivant Avatar for gr Avatar for cd Avatar for phlebas Avatar for mrf Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for pine Avatar for schmed Avatar for pshah Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for jinnj Avatar for susanintheoc Avatar for tiowally Avatar for yellowbeard Avatar for c_stedman Avatar for rucleare Avatar for demoncrat

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: