Georgia official says ‘potential threats’ to Senate runoffs under investigation

A top Georgia elections official said Monday that officials are investigating potential threats surrounding Tuesday’s Senate runoffs.

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, would not detail specific threats but acknowledged at a Monday afternoon press conference that officials believe there could be “any number of potential threats attempting to encourage or discourage turnout.”

“We’ve discussed with GBI, FBI and sheriff’s departments potentially there being threats and we’ve seen some of that nature potentially out there. They’re under investigation,” Sterling said, referring to the Georgia and federal bureaus of investigation.

Sterling encouraged Georgia voters to “please turnout, be safe, be smart and don’t let anybody get in the way of you casting your vote.”

Meanwhile, local news reported on the existence of a threatening email that was sent to employees in Cherokee County and other counties about polling locations before the Jan. 5 runoffs. 

Republicans former Sen. David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler are facing challenges from Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, respectively. Democrats need to capture both seats in order to gain control of the Senate in the new Congress.

Sterling spent the vast majority of his press conference debunking claims made by President Trump about voter fraud in the presidential election. Trump is slated to stump for Perdue and Loeffler at a rally in Dalton, Ga., Monday evening.