Velshi Gets Upset At GA Sec. of State Condemning Stacey Abrams

Ali Velshi on MSNBC’s Saturday program was confused by Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State’s assertion that Stacey Abrams’ conspiracy theories regarding stolen elections were not different from Donald Trump’s. Voter suppression was, in fact, a valid concern, and not fraud.

Velshi was there to talk about his book, and Raffensperger asked Velshi why he didn’t like Abrams. Velshi believed the two should be in the same team.

The struggle for integrity in elections is the current battle. Fighting for democracy. The struggle in which everyone who’s constitutionally entitled to vote should vote in a way that is unimpeded. It strikes me that Stacey Abrams and you are both on that side. In this fight are you not more closely aligned with her than you are, for instance, for a lot, than a lot of the Republicans who are not supporting you right now, including the ex-president’s clown car?

Velshi’s spin was completely rejected by Raffensperger. “No. Not in the slightest. If really you look at what Stacey Abrams did, she lost the state of Georgia in 2018 by 55,000 votes. She questioned the legitimacy of our elections,” he recalled. “She actually then set the table, along with other leaders, national Democrat leaders that supported Stacey Abrams in her big lie and set the table for President Trump then just to ramp it up and take it to the next level.”

After Raffensperger urged both parties to fight hard to win elections, but lose with honor, an incredulous Velshi asked: “You cannot possibly be drawing a parallel between Stacey Abrams saying there were voters suppressed and Donald Trump saying that you need to find votes that weren’t cast in his favor. Those can’t be, you can’t, those can’t be equivalencies to you.”

Raffensperger again had to provide Velshi with some basic facts, “but there was no voter suppression. In her race, we had 4 million people show up for the governor’s race. That’s nearly a million more than ever showed up before. Record numbers were registered and there was record voter turnout. “It was all fake.”

Velshi tripled down, claiming, “there is a distinction between lying about voter fraud and discussing whether states like Georgia, states like Texas and others do make it difficult for people who have a constitutional right to vote, right?”

Raffensperger was forced to rectify the situation and cited early voting and absentee votes to show how simple it is to vote in Georgia. Velshi was not concerned about the facts. “You do not think you can do things in Georgia to improve the access for people to vote? Velshi stated that he believed it could be made a more democratic voting system.

Raffensperger was forced to say it again, to which Velshi interjected “But can we do more?”

Raffensperger concluded the segment by promoting changes Georgia has made, such as eliminating subjective signature verification with objective driver’s license numbers and shorter Election Day lines.

This segment was sponsored and produced by Chase

The November 6, 2017 show transcript is available here:

MSNBC Velshi
November 6, 2021
8:09 AM ET

ALI VELSHI: You’ve taken aim at Stacey Abrams recently and I almost wonder about that because I know you’re different political parties, but in this current struggle, the struggle about the integrity for elections. It is the struggle for democracy. The struggle in which everyone who’s constitutionally entitled to vote should vote in a way that is unimpeded. It strikes me that Stacey Abrams and you are both on that side. In this fight are you not more closely aligned with her than you are, for instance, for a lot, than a lot of the Republicans who are not supporting you right now, including the ex-president’s clown car?

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER : I don’t think so. If really you look at what Stacey Abrams did, she lost the state of Georgia in 2018 by 55,000 votes. She questioned the legitimacy of our elections. She actually then set the table, along with other leaders, national Democrat leaders that supported Stacey Abrams in her big lie and set the table for President Trump then just to ramp it up and take it to the next level. 

Voter suppression and voter fraud. They’re both sides of the coin, different sides, but stolen election claims undermine people’s confidence in the elections. So, both parties are, really, something they need to look internally at what they have done on the left and right and say we are not going to do that anymore. We’re going, we’re going to really fight hard to win the elections, but when we lose, we’re going to lose honorably. 

VELSHI: Yeah, I totally agree with that, I agree with that last conclusion, but you cannot possibly be drawing a parallel between Stacey Abrams saying there were voters suppressed and Donald Trump saying that you need find votes that weren’t cast in his favor. Those can’t be, you can’t, those can’t be equivalencies to you.

RAFFENSPERGER: She undermined, but there was no voter suppression. In her race, we had 4 million people show up for the governor’s race. That’s nearly a million more than ever showed up before. Record numbers were registered and there was record voter turnout. The whole thing was phony. And it’s just like voter fraud, we show that President Trump did not win the state of Georgia. It’s not healthy for American democracy and both of them need to quit it and people need to win their races on their own merits. 

VELSHI: Again, I agree with your last point there, but there is a distinction between lying about voter fraud and discussing whether states like Georgia, states like Texas and others do make it difficult for people who have a constitutional right to vote, right? The bottom line is the Constitution and its amendments say who can vote in America and every one of the people should have an easy time voting, right? So, long lineups, rules that discourage people from voting. Shorter advanced polling, harder ways to vote, which is Stacey Abrams complaint. That’s valid. This makes it easier for people to vote.

RAFFENSPERGER: And none of that has happened in Georgia. In fact, we have 17 days left of early voting and two Sundays for counties that want it. We have no excuse absentee voting, which we’ve had in place since 2005. We have record registrations and last year, we had 5 million people show up for the presidential ballot. 

VELSHI: You do not think you can do things in Georgia to improve the access for people to vote? You can improve the voting system. 

RAFFENSPERGER – We have it already. Already have.

VELSHI: But can you do more?

RAFFENSPERGER: We moved away from signature match. We already moved away from signature match on the absent ballot and we went to driver’s license number with photo I.D. That’s is what they’ve been using in Minnesota for ten years. This is an objective standard. So, we can then pull some of that subjective criteria and put in objective criteria and help restore voter confidence. That’s a good thing. We increased the number of days of early voting. And last November, our lines were less than one hour in all precincts in the afternoon of Election Day. So, the counties have done a great job working on those long lines that we had previously.