Georgia election officials say they found no evidence that the Public Service Commission race was left off some ballots, and Democrat Daniel Blackman acknowledged Wednesday that he had lost to Republican Lauren “Bubba” McDonald.
Blackman had alleged that voters in 38 counties reported they didn’t see the PSC race or his name listed on their ballots in the Jan. 5 runoff election.
But after reviewing ballot styles and printed records, the secretary of state’s office said Blackman’s claim was unsubstantiated.
“We have learned from 2018 to now — from Stacey Abrams to Donald Trump — that false claims and disinformation that an election has been stolen is dangerous to our democracy,” said Walter Jones, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.
Blackman never alleged the PSC election was stolen, saying he wanted to make sure that every vote was counted.
“While I do accept these election results, we have to make sure we don’t turn the page on the issues we have seen affecting the process,” Blackman said. “Our focus is to make sure that every single voter was able to exercise their right to vote.”
Blackman suggested that election officials might have inadvertently mailed absentee ballots to some voters that contained only U.S. Senate races. Ballots that only include federal races are created for U.S. citizens who permanently live overseas.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified the election results Tuesday. McDonald won by 33,727 votes over Blackman.
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