Raffensperger: Absentee Ballots Won't Affect Integrity of Runoffs

The same "no excuse" absentee ballot process that was in play during November's election is being used in Georgia's runoff Senate races, but will not affect the integrity of the elections that are being watched nationwide, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Tuesday. 

"I can assure you that it will be a fair and honest election, safe, and dependable," Raffensperger told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" host Sandra Smith. "That's what we had in November, but we had someone that didn't get the number of votes they wanted in Georgia and disparaged our voting system. Our voting system is safe, it's reliable, and will you see that today."

With the absentee ballots, the state is following laws that were enacted by Republicans 15 years ago, with the exception of requiring absentee ballot applications being filed to include a photo ID, he added. 

Meanwhile, lines were moving well at the polls on Tuesday as people came out to vote in the races between Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff and between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock, said Raffensperger. He added that they probably won't be called until Wednesday morning, depending on the number of absentee ballots received and how close the races are. 

"Hopefully, people will have confidence in themselves no matter how it turns out," he said. "As a Republican, I hope our senators win. As secretary of state, my job is to make sure we have fair and honest elections and that's what we've done in Georgia.

Raffensperger also on Tuesday defended the leak of a call over the weekend between himself and Trump, denying that it was a confidential conversation. He also said the call was released after Trump posted about it first on Twitter. 

"He continues to be misled or doesn't want to believe the facts and we have the facts on our side," said Raffensperger. 

Smith asked him why he would put the country "into jeopardy" by leaking the phone call, and Raffensperger said he doesn't understand how "truth would jeopardize the country."

"We're standing on the facts and the truth," he said. "We have numbers. Come on by to our office. I have the numbers in front and we've posted them yesterday as part of our press conference. They will be part of our filings for the lawsuits."

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