Georgia Gov. Kemp, Lt. Gov. Duncan say no to special session

Dec. 7 (UPI) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said they will not call a special legislative session to overturn the results of the state’s general election.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the two officials said the state law clearly says an alternative method for choosing presidential electors can only be made if the election was not held on the date set by federal law.

“While we understand four members of the Georgia Senate are requesting the convening of a special session of the General Assembly, doing this in order to select a separate slate of presidential electors is not an option that is allowed under the state or federal law,” the pair said.

The officials explained that the General Assembly decided in the 1960s that Georgia’s presidential electors would be determined by the state’s popular vote and “any attempt by the legislature to retroactively change that process for the Nov. 3rd election would be unconstitutional and immediately enjoined by the courts, resulting in a long legal dispute and no short-term resolution.”

The short statement follows Kemp on Saturday reportedly refusing President Donald Trump’s request to call a special session to overturn the election.

Trump, his campaign and his supporters have continued to make widely discredited claims of voter fraud since the November election. In Georgia, officials certified election results late last month following the hand count of 5 million votes that showed President-elect Joe Biden won the state’s electoral votes by more than 12,300 ballots, a number that was later reduced by 900 after a machine recount.

The president on Saturday criticized Kemp for not acting on his allegations of voter fraud.

On Sunday, Duncan told CNN’s State of the Union that he and the

Georgia Gov Brian Kemp said in a joint statement with Lt Gov Geoff Duncan that the judicial system is the best way to challenge the states election results Photo by Chris KleponisUPI

governor are not going to hold a special session.

“The governor and I have spoken often about this and calling the General Assembly back in at this point would be almost along the lines of a solution trying to find a problem,” he said. “And we’re certainly not going to move the goalposts at this point in the election. We are going to continue to follow the letter of the law, which gives us a very clear-cut direction as to how to execute an election.”

In their joint statement on Sunday, the Republican officials recommended the judicial systems as the “only viable — and quickest — option” to dispute the state’s election results.

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