Trump loyalists fail to get Brad Raffensperger investigated over ex-president's 2020 loss

The Georgia State Election Board will not move forward with a push by GOP activists and Trump loyalists to investigate Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, reportedThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday.

"The State Election Board deadlocked on opening an investigation of Raffensperger on a 2-2 vote, short of the majority required. The board then voted unanimously to ask the General Assembly to clarify whether it has the power to police Raffensperger, a Republican who certified the 2020 vote count," reported Mark Niesse.

"The bid to investigate Raffensperger, supported by a loud crowd of Republicans who filled the Capitol meeting to capacity, reflected a persistent desire to revisit the last presidential election ahead of the next one. Three vote counts confirmed that Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 12,000 votes in Georgia, and multiple investigations have debunked allegations of fraud," the report continued. Nonetheless, Republicans wanted an investigation of how Raffensperger conducted an audit of the election results.

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Raffensperger, a conservative Republican who serves as the top election official in the state, was a target of pressure by Republican activists trying to prevent certification of President Joe Biden's victory there.

Most famously, Trump called Raffensperger and pressured him to "find" an extra 11,000 votes to help him win Georgia, an act that is part of the criminal racketeering charges against the former president in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. The pressure has continued.

One of the most prominent Raffensperger critics is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a recently-elected Trump loyalist who served as one of the fake Trump electors in 2020. Jones has attacked him in advertisements — although some of those ads have made embarrassing mistakes, like demanding people call the wrong number to complain about him.