John Fervier, chairman of the Georgia State Board of Elections, is a mild-mannered business executive with a dry wit and aversion to the spotlight. But in recent weeks, he found himself at the center of a political storm as three MAGA-leaning board members pushed through rules that many believed would have caused chaos and chaos. Georgia during the presidential election.
The pro-Trump faction, which makes up the board’s majority, passed one rule requiring county election officials to hand-count all paper ballots on election night and another rule requiring a “reasonable investigation” before the election is certified. . .
both rules It was eventually dismissed by a Georgia court.However, the decision was appealed. Fervier spoke to CBS News (his first interview with a national outlet) about how he thinks the election has gone so far and what to expect going forward.
The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Dan Kleidman: From your perspective, how is the election going so far? You walked around and talked to poll workers and election officials.
John Purvier: As Chairman of the State Board of Elections, I felt it was necessary to get out in the field and see what was really happening, especially in Fulton County. 2020 election.
But I also wanted to see what was happening across the state. So last week I was in South Georgia, visiting Camden County, Glynn County, and several places in Gwinnett County. I have now visited nine different locations in Fulton County. I’ve visited close to 15 polling places so far, and all I’ve seen is a very smooth, well-run, well-organized election.
I talked to the people who run the voting pads and the voters. I talked to these security guards, I talked to all the election watchers from the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and even the Libertarian Party. I just wanted to know their feelings about how things were going. I have every confidence in our laws, policies and procedures that we have a very safe election.
Mike Stewart/AP
Kleidman: You mentioned Fulton County, which was the subject of much controversy in 2020, threats against poll workers and people, including former President Trump, questioning whether a fair election was conducted. Last weekend, the state Republican Party filed the county’s lawsuit. Decision to allow people to return absentee ballots After closing on Friday. The judge rejected their claims.
Pervier: Well, there’s a lot of disinformation out there. These are people who either don’t understand or are actually trying to create confusion.
There is no law prohibiting counties from keeping registration offices open on weekends to collect absentee ballots. Some people want to say they’re continuing to vote or this or that? No, just people submitting absentee ballots. You can drop it off at the post office. You can submit it at the registry office. You can file them on Election Day, during early voting, or on weekends if your county prefers. And it’s not against the law.
Kleidman: So do you think this is an effort to sow distrust in the election, or an effort to suppress voting?
Pervier: I don’t understand why anyone is against it. Frankly, if you’re worried about ballot security, you should prefer this because you’re actually delivering your ballots to the registrar and not putting a truckload of ballots in a mailbox somewhere. So I don’t know why you’re against this. I’ve seen some people online trying to use this to cause confusion.
Russian interference in Georgia elections
Kleidman: The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia attempted to interfere in the U.S. election. Last week, the FBI linked a video purporting to show influential Russian actors engaged in voter fraud in Georgia.
Pervier: For me, the bigger threat is the organic material coming into our country. You know, there are groups of people out there who call themselves Patriots, Proud Boys, Antifa, etc. They scare me more than Russian bots. Because they organized groups that were causing trouble.
I’ve seen this from the State Board of Elections. There will be people who are trying to create all this anxiety about the issue and create chaos in the election and sow doubt and confusion.
Kleidman: Have you seen any evidence of fraud?
Pervier: Between 5 and 7 million people voted. There will be some small issues, but they want to talk about voting for illegal immigrants. During my time on the Committee, I have yet to see a case involving illegal immigrants brought before the Committee.
They want to talk about dead people voting. I’ve never seen that before.
Have there been instances of people voting twice? Yes, it always will be. There will always be dresses and see-throughs like that. That will happen. But these huge numbers of people are talking about huge numbers of deaths, huge numbers of illegal immigrants, or huge numbers of everything, but it’s not actually happening. That’s not reality. But if you listen to some of these people on the Internet or on Twitter, you’ll think it’s just a big problem. It just isn’t.
Kleidman: As Chairman of the State Board of Elections, you have been at the center of controversy within the Georgia Board of Elections itself regarding this election. The MAGA-leaning majority supports several measures that could delay certification of the election, including a requirement to manually count ballots to ensure they match machine-counted numbers and a requirement to allow for a “reasonable investigation.” We pushed for some rules. We investigate possible fraud prior to verification. What do you think the motivation of those board members was?
Pervier: You’ll have to ask them their motivations. My position against this is well known and is expressed by the Board of Directors. They believe these rules will increase the security of elections. I don’t share that opinion with them.
Some of these rules seem fairly innocuous until you understand exactly how they work. I am against it because I believe it is not statutory or permitted by law. I’m a small government guy. I don’t believe in the power of boards. I believe in the power of lawmakers. It is the legislature, not the state board, that must enact election laws.
Anxiety about the Election Commission and certification
Kleidman: There have been concerns that some local election boards, not just in Georgia but across the country, may simply refuse to certify the election.
Pervier: The statute requires the board to “certify” the election results at 5 p.m. on the Monday after the election. I don’t say “maybe.” I don’t say “maybe.” There is no discretion there.
Kleidman: How concerned are you about one or more members of these committees refusing certification as an act of civil disobedience?
Pervier: Well, I think there’s a good chance that will happen. To be honest, I would be shocked if no one has been denied certification by the state of Georgia. I would be more concerned if I thought the (full) board had rejected certification. I think it causes serious problems. Individuals do not stop verifying. I am very worried that the board will reject this.
Kleidman: What can I do if that happens?
Pervier: If an individual refuses to certify, we could see someone filing a lawsuit against the state Board of Elections because they refuse to comply with the law. It will be interesting to see if that happens. You may also refer the case to the Attorney General’s Office or your local DA for prosecution.
Why is the election fraud movement still so strong?
Kleidman: What kind of insights have you gained over the past almost a year since joining the board about the election boycott movement, which has been a stubborn part of our politics?
Pervier: I don’t think people give enough credit for the chaos and confusion caused by COVID-19. The 2020 election saw record numbers of people not attending the polls and not voting by absentee ballot, when some counties found it very difficult to hire poll workers or qualified poll workers. I believe there has been a lot of human error in 2020, but I have yet to see any actual fraud, and I have looked at hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of evidence before me. And all of that (alleged) fraud has been disproved over and over again by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, reporters, Republicans, and Democrats. I mean, it’s been disproven, but people can’t seem to get past it.
Threats to election officials as tensions rise
Kleidman: Many people have heard of Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shay Moss. Fulton County pollster subjected to horrific threats Violence and racism. With the election just a day away, what are your thoughts on the threat environment?
Pervier: I would say there was a spike in threats in August and September when all the rules for our board were proposed. Over the past few weeks, that number has decreased significantly.
Kleidman: Have you received death threats?
Pervier: I received some. But when I went to the polls, I didn’t hear a single threat. There were only two instances where we had to call the police, and it was because voters were wearing campaign gear that they weren’t supposed to wear. You cannot wear partisan gear within 150 feet of a polling place.
Kleidman: Are you concerned about physical violence?
Pervier: I think we need to prepare for this. There are crazy people in the world, crazy people on the right and left, emotions and passions are high. Every polling place I’ve been to has security guards, which gave me a lot of confidence, and gave me a lot of confidence in voters and election officials. This is something we should be concerned about, but we have not yet heard or seen any threats.
Kleidman: We have taken for granted that those who administer elections do so in a non-partisan manner. Can you still do that?
Pervier: We all have opinions. The question is whether you can be nonpartisan in your work. My position is nonpartisan under the statute and I take it very seriously. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Green. It doesn’t matter to me. Everyone deserves a voice. Everyone is entitled to vote. And it’s very important to me that all of us who participate in the election system, whether we’re election officials, poll supervisors, commissions or whoever, act in a nonpartisan way.
Kleidman: What does your day look like on Election Day?
Pervier: Busy, busy, busy. I’ll start voting at 7 a.m. and probably finish at midnight watching all the reports come in from the Secretary of State’s office. I want to get at least 10 to 15 votes per day. And when I go to the polls, I want to shake the hands of every poll worker there. Because I really appreciate their hard work, time, patience, and the work they have done over the past three or four weeks. About safe and secure elections in Georgia. These people work hard and deserve our gratitude.
