Georgia state Senate Republicans are calling for a forensic audit of all election data, and for election officials to engage with investigations into alleged fraud.
They said they will continue to hold hearings into election fraud until and beyond Jan. 5, the date of the double runoff elections that will settle control of the U.S. Senate.
They indicated, however, that they don’t believe the law allows them to appoint their own presidential electors.
In a list of announcements, the Republican group said they would also fund the secretary of state’s call to investigate out-of-state residents moving to Georgia for the sole purpose of voting in the runoff.
The group said it will also pass legislation to reverse the “detrimental effects” of the consent decree that has been criticized for allegedly making signature matching so difficult as to be virtually impossible to carry out in practice.
They said the new legislation would be introduced “as soon as we may constitutionally convene,” along with bills aimed to eliminate at-will absentee voting and requiring photo ID for absentee votes.
They also called on the secretary of state to immediately release a certified list of all voters from the Nov. 3 election, along with a certified list of all newly registered voters from Oct. 5 to Dec. 7 in the state.
Officials at the secretary of state’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
“Georgia Senate Republicans have heard the calls of millions of Georgians who have raised deep and heartfelt concerns that state law has been violated and our elections process abused in our November 3, 2020, elections,” the GOP caucus said.
The announcement stated there was no avenue available to challenge the state’s presidential election results, instead suggesting that a better route is through the case filed by Texas with the Supreme Court.
“Our state constitution precludes us from calling a special session due to the lack of a three-fifths majority in both chambers,” they wrote. “As constitutionalists, we must respect that.”
While the Republicans hold the majority in both chambers, the GOP falls short of that three-fifths mandate in the House.
The official GOP caucus appeared to fall in line with his assessment in their Dec. 9 announcement, saying that state law provides no avenue to “retroactively alter the results from November 3, 2020.”
Trump’s lawyers insist the Constitution empowers the state legislators alone with the final say-so on electors, regardless of state law.
Meanwhile, a group of 15 Republican Georgia senators issued a statement siding with the Texas lawsuit that seeks to toss out Georgia’s election results.
“This systemic failure to follow the law has allowed misconduct, fraud, and irregularities throughout the voting process of this state,” they said in their statement. “These failures and other fraudulent activities were brought to light at the hearing held in the Georgia State Senate Judiciary Subcommittee last week.
“We urge the U.S. Supreme Court to accept this very important case submitted last night by the State of Texas.”
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