Trump Calls Kemp Fool, Electors Vote, Cabinet: GA Election News

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia’s 16 Democratic electors — including Stacey Abrams and U.S. Rep.-elect Nikema Williams — cast their votes shortly Monday at the Georgia Capitol for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Other election news includes the GOP held an electoral vote that doesn't count; President Donald Trump continued to publicly berate Gov. Brian Kemp; and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she turned down a Biden Cabinet appointment.

Democratic Electors Vote

Normally a formality, the electoral vote has drawn extra attention this year in the face of repeated claims by President Donald Trump and his allies that the election was “rigged” and that he actually won.

Georgia’s election results have been counted, recounted and twice certified. Biden came up the winner with each count, by a margin of about 12,000 votes. Trump’s campaign also has repeatedly challenged the vote in court and has been slapped down almost every time.

Electors usually cast their vote in line with how their state voted, but in rare cases there are exceptions. So called "faithless electors" have occurred in the past, as only 32 states have passed laws preventing electors from changing their vote. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that states have the power to make committed votes binding.

The next step in the voting process is for Congress to count the votes on Jan. 6 and declare a winner. Vice President Mike Pence will preside.

Republican Electors Also Cast Ballots

At the same time Democratic electors chose Biden, Republican electors at the capitol in Georgia were voting for Trump against the possibility of a fight in Congress.

"Had we not meet today and cast our votes, the President’s pending election contest would have been effectively mooted," tweeted David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. "Our action today preserves his (Trump's) rights under Georgia law."

Republican electors in Pennsylvania also voted for Trump, and other battleground states may follow suit, according to Fox News.

Trump Calls Kemp A 'Fool' And 'Clown' On Twitter

Against this background, Trump and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich assailed Gov. Brian Kemp on Twitter for certifying that Biden beat Trump in Georgia.

"Democrats weakened the Signature Verification (and other) safeguards in Georgia," Trump tweeted early Monday. "@staceyabrams played @BrianKempGA & Secretary of State, for fools. Consent Decree, which is terrible for Republicans (and honest people!), must be opened up NOW - David, Kelly, and I will then win!"

Another tweet followed that appeared also to be a veiled threat to Republican U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both of whom are trying to keep their seats in the Jan. 5 runoff:

"What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is," Trump tweeted. "Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th."

On Sunday, Gingrich tweeted: "Why is Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger working so hard to add drop boxes and take other steps to make it harder for Republicans to win. Is he really that intimidated by Stacey Abrams?"

Kemp pushed back on the attacks in a Monday interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, characterizing them as "ridiculous" while taking care not to blame the attacks on Trump himself.

Wall Street Journal Calls On Trump To Concede

The editorial board of one of the nation's most influential conservative newspapers on Sunday called on Trump to concede, adding that his stubbornness may lose Georgia's two Senate seats.

"There’s a time to fight, and a time to concede," editors of The Wall Street Journal posted to the paper's website. "Mr. Trump has had his innumerable days in court and lost. He would do far better now to tout his accomplishments in office, which are many, and accept his not so horrible fate as one of 45 former American Presidents."

Biden To Visit Atlanta Tuesday, Rally For Ossoff, Warnock

Biden has announced he will visit Atlanta Tuesday to campaign in support of Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. As of mid-morning Monday, the exact time and location had yet to be announced. Read the Patch story here.

Atlanta Mayor Turns Down Cabinet Post

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms turned down an unspecified post in President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The report was confirmed by both a spokesperson for the mayor and the Biden Transition Press Office. Read the Patch story here.

Longer Waits In Cobb For Early Voting In U.S. Senate Runoffs

Monday is the first day of early voting in the runoff to choose Georgia’s two U.S. Senators. Some metro Atlanta locations reported long waits when polls opened, according to WXIA-TV. However, the lines had shortened considerably by mid-morning everywhere but Cobb County, where voters still had to wait more than an hour at the county building. Cobb is one of several Georgia counties that shut down some early voting sites for the runoff that had been available for the Nov. 3 election.

Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties are all posting wait times online at their advance-voting locations. Click on the county name to check for yourself.

Runoff Expected To Be 'High Turnout': Raffensperger

Turnout for the runoff elections is expected to be extraordinarily high. According to the U.S. Elections Project, more than 1.2 million Georgians had already requested absentee ballots as of Monday, with more than 21 percent having returned those ballots so far.

“I think we’re going to have a high-turnout election,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said to The Wall Street Journal. “I would encourage all the candidates to make sure that they run hard, because we don’t have a runoff after the runoff. This is it.”

Patch reporter Justin Heinze contributed to this article.