ATLANTA — Republicans had won six straight presidential elections in Georgia. They are not happy that this may be the one that breaks the streak.
"What does communism benefit you? Answer the question!" barked a protester to a spectator at State Farm Arena on Thursday.
The protesters were questioning the legitimacy of vote ongoing absentee vote counting by Fulton County. The rally outside channeled some of that anger.
"Stop the steal," others chanted at a rally led by GOP state chairman David Shafer Thursday evening. It featured one of President Trump’s sons and a pro-Trump Democrat.
"In case you didn’t know, I’m from the south and we believe in fighting," state Rep. Vernon Jones (D-Lithonia) told a noisy crowd. "This fight is just starting. We are seeing the whites of their eyes and we’re getting ready to start shootin'."
Jones, who became visible this summer as a pro-Trump African American Democrat, was pushing unsubstantiated conspiracies formed to question the legitimacy of the vote count that has put Trump behind Joe Biden late Thursday in Georgia.
Cobb County GOP chairman Jason Shepherd was more circumspect.
"It's within the realm of possibility that it could be legit or could be fraud," Shepherd said Friday. He thinks there’s been less vote-count transparency, making the vote more ripe for fraud. He had no evidence of fraud.
"The best thing we can do is have a process that is open, transparent and shine sunlight onto it," he said. "And if it turns out there is no evidence of voter fraud, accept the results of that regardless of which way that is."
GOP strategist Mike Hassinger said election transparency has actually improved – and said his fellow Republicans may need to get used to a Joe Biden presidency.
"If there were any hanky panky with the election returns, we would be able to see it," Hassinger said. "This is not Chicago in 1960. This is America in 2020. And it’s close, and maybe it’s upsetting to the president’s biggest fans. But it’s an honest and fair election," said Hassinger, who said he voted for Libertarian Jo Jorgenson.
Hassinger said critics of the vote count need to produce real evidence before they claim that the election is being stolen.