On the race to the White House, some Trump-backed republicans have drawn up new rules to contest and challenge election results in a swing state. The battleground of Georgia was won by Joe Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes last election, culminating in a now infamous phone call in which Donald Trump pushed to have the results overturned. Now, for the 2024 election, Trump loyalists on Georgia’s election board have enacted sweeping rule changes which critics say could cause chaos and delay the certification of results.
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00:00Oh, we got the black boat in the water.
00:10They always, man, no backbone, no nothing.
00:14Maurice Combs is no fan of Donald Trump.
00:17I mean, everything coming out of his mouth is not true.
00:21He'll be voting for Kamala Harris in November's election.
00:25I have mixed thoughts, but I'm going to stand behind her because she's a running Democrat.
00:31In 2020, Joe Biden flipped the peach state.
00:35Several recounts didn't change the outcome, but Donald Trump didn't let go.
00:40Four years on, Brad Raffensperger is making a show of testing election systems around
00:46the state.
00:47We have fair, secure, accurate elections here in Georgia.
00:51But a Republican-dominated state election board is passing new rules, allowing politically
00:57appointed election officials to conduct investigations and recounts at their own discretion.
01:03They're talking about opening up those ballot boxes at the local precincts instead of bringing
01:07back to the headquarters in a secured box.
01:10Should the rules be overturned?
01:13I do not support the rules as they are.
01:16That's a yes?
01:17I do not support the rules as they are.
01:19Donald Trump has heaped praise on the board members pushing the changes.
01:25He liked what we were doing and that's what he said.
01:27I haven't had any conversations with him or his team.
01:30Board member Janelle King rejects allegations the new rules are designed to cause chaos.
01:37You're 100% sure that Georgia's election results will be certified?
01:41I can't be 100% sure of anything, but I will say that if I had to bet as much as everything
01:46I have, I would put it on there that yes, it will be certified.
01:49That's her calling for the board members to be removed.
01:53Last time around, Donald Trump tried to overthrow our votes and now him and his MAGA allies
01:58are doing similar things at the state election board.
02:01The criminal case against Donald Trump over his alleged election interference in Georgia
02:07in 2020 is on hold, but the former president has made the indictment part of his campaign.
02:14It's like a slap to the face because he's, he's, he's privileged.
02:23You know, a lot.
02:24I got friends that can't vote because they're convicted felon and then he can run for president.
02:30I think that comment was awkward, but I get it.
02:33It's not a matter of, of black men identifying with being criminals.
02:39That's not what this is about.
02:41This is about black men feeling like they've been marginalized and that he can release
02:44one of the few white men in America that can relate to that.
02:48Feelings run deep because in a state like Georgia, every single vote counts.
02:53Joe Biden won here by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.
02:59Atlanta businessman Azad Ahmadi will be voting for Donald Trump for a third time.
03:05I know where he stands, whether he likes something or he doesn't.
03:08It's very clear to me.
03:09Ahmadi's fiance thinks that for the first time, she'll also back a Republican presidential
03:15candidate, even if a black woman is running for the Democrats.
03:19Your initial thought is, wow, you know, there is the African-American woman in the position
03:24to be president, right?
03:26And then that facade kind of went out the window.
03:30It's like, where has she's, where has she been the whole presidency when Biden was here?
03:35I mean, it's like she was a ghost.
03:40In the complex maths of the U.S. presidential system, a candidate needs 270 electoral college
03:48votes to take the White House.
03:51Whoever wins Georgia gets 16, and that's quite a prize.
03:57It could even be enough to decide the entire presidential race.