Georgia senators call for secretary of state to resign

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Two Republican U.S. senators from Georgia who face runoff elections against Democratic challengers called on the state's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign Monday.

Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue cited failures in Georgia's election process without citing specific examples and repeated President Donald Trump's refrain that "illegal votes" should not be counted, in a joint statement calling for Raffensperger's resignation.

"There have been too many failures in Georgia elections this year and the most recent election has shined a national light on the problems," the senators wrote. "The secretary of state has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections. He has failed the people of Georgia and he should step down immediately."

Perdue and Loeffler will go into runoff elections against their respective Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock as none of the candidates in either race secured at least 50% of the vote during last week's election.

Raffensperger issued his own statement saying he would not resign and declaring the election a "resounding success," citing low wait times and high turnout.

"I know emotions are running high. Politics are involved in everything right now," he said. "If I was Senator Perdue, I'd be irritated I was in a runoff. And both senators and I are all unhappy with the potential outcome for our president. But I am the duly elected secretary of state. One of my duties involves helping to run elections for all Georgia voters. I have taken that oath and I will execute that duty and follow Georgia law."

Raffensperger also said, however, that he believes there was "illegal voting" and that his office is investigating it.

"Does it rise to the numbers or margin necessary to change the outcome to where President [Donald] Trump is given Georgia's electoral votes? That is unlikely," he said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has secured the presidency with more than 270 electoral votes, leads Trump by 12,338 votes in Georgia with 2,469,117 (49.5%) to Trump's 2,456,779 (49.3%) in the presidential race.

Last week, Georgia officials announced the state would conduct a recount due to the smaller than 0.5% between the candidates.