'It has all gone too far': Georgia voting official tears into Trump, GOP senators for fueling threats against election workers and being 'complicit' with their silence

Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling, a Republican, urged President Donald Trump and GOP senators to "stop inspiring potential acts of violence" against election workers in a fiery press conference on Tuesday.
Sterling tore into the president and local lawmakers for not showing any leadership and instead being "complicit" in the harassment of election workers.
Sterling, the state's voting systems manager, said that a young contractor with an election vendor, Dominion Voting Systems, has faced threats and harassment for completing basic tech tasks.
Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp have also been criticized and threatened for not falling in line with the president's claims of widespread voter fraud and for certifying the election results for President-elect Joe Biden.
Someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed, and it's not right," he said.
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Gabriel Sterling, the voting systems implementation manager for the Georgia Secretary of State's office, called on President Donald Trump and Republican Senators to publicly condemn the escalating threats of violence against election workers, saying at a Tuesday press conference that "it has to stop."

"Mr. President, it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia. We're investigating, there's always a possibility, I get it, you have the rights to go through the courts," Sterling said. "What you don't have the ability to do, and you need to step up and say this, is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed, and it's not right."

Sterling was visibly angry and struggled to maintain his composure as he described threats against both high-profile officials — like Chris Krebs, the nation's former top cybersecurity official who was fired for pushing back on Trump's claims of massive fraud — and election systems technicians alike.

"Joe DiGenova today asked for Chris Krebs, a patriot who ran CISA, to be shot. A 20-something tech in Gwinnett County today, has death threats and a noose put out saying that he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from an EMS to a county computer so he could read it," Sterling said. "It has to stop."

Since the election, Trump and his allies have embarked on an unprecedented campaign to undermine the integrity of the presidential election nationwide and specifically in Georgia, leading to election officials receiving harassment and death threats. Sterling criticized the president and GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler for not speaking out against the vitriol that election workers and their families are facing.

In Georgia, a statewide risk-limiting audit affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's narrow victory — of about 12,000 votes — over Trump. After the results were certified, the Trump campaign filed a request for another machine recount, which is expected to be completed this week.

The election has fractured any semblance of GOP unity in Georgia. Loeffler and Perdue have called on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to step down. Raffensperger has been verbally attacked for rebuking the Trump campaign's baseless claims of fraud, and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has drawn the ire of GOP lawmakers for certifying the results for Biden.

"Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. We need you to step up, and if you're going to take a position of leadership, show some," Sterling said, further describing the harassment and "sexualized threats" that Raffensperger and his wife received.

He continued: "This is elections, this is the backbone of democracy, and all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. It's too much. Yes, fight for every legal vote, go for your due process, we encourage it, use your First Amendment right. Death threats, physical threats, intimidation, it's too much. It's not right. They have lost the moral high ground to claim that it is."

Sterling described a young voting systems technician, a contractor with the state's vendor for election technology, Dominion Voting Systems, facing threats as "the straw that broke the camel's back."

"I talked to Dominion today, and they said he's one of the better ones they've got. His family's getting harassed. There's a noose out there with his name on it. It's just not right," Sterling said. "I've got police protection outside my house. I took a higher-profile job, I get it. The Secretary ran for office, he and his wife knew that too. This kid took a job. He just took a job. And it's wrong. I can't begin to explain the level of anger I have right now."