The state of the 2020 U.S. election is, still, not a settled matter in Georgia. For weeks, conservatives have been filing lawsuits in state and federal courts in an effort to decertify results that gave a victory to Joe Biden. On Twitter, President Trump has been making unsubstantiated claims that the state has been “scammed.”

With Georgia in political turmoil, threats of violence have been made against state election officials, who have been scrambling to recount votes by hand, and against their families.

Still, dozens of prominent national Republicans have stayed silent.

Last week, Gabriel Sterling, a little-known election official in Georgia, did something his party is refusing to do: condemn the president’s claims.

For today’s episode, we called him to ask why he decided to speak up.




Guest: Gabriel Sterling, a Republican official who is the voting system implementation manager in Georgia.




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Background reading:

• “Stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed. And it’s not right,” Mr. Sterling said in a four-minute rebuke of the president last week.
• The last act of the Trump presidency has taken on the stormy elements of a drama more common to history or literature than a modern White House.