Donald Trump claimed 5,000 dead in Georgia, a state he lost en route to national defeat to Joe Biden, in 2020.
It was off by 4,996.
As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Monday, state officials have confirmed four cases of election deaths.
Any family members involved who cast votes for the deceased, cases where the state has the power to impose fines.
In one case described by the newspaper, a widow submitted a postal ballot for her husband after he died two months before election day in September.
A lawyer for the 74-year-old woman reportedly told officials her husband would “vote Republicans and she said,” Well, I’m going to cancel your election because I’m voting for Democrats. It was kind of a joke between them. She took the postal ballot and carried out his wishes.
“She now realizes that that wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Even if Trump’s claim about dead voters were true, it would not have saved him from becoming the first Republican to lose Georgia since 1992. Biden won the state with nearly 12,000 votes. Even Georgia alone could not have made up for Trump’s defeat in the electoral college with 306 to 232.
But Trump included his claim in an infamous appeal urging Georgia Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, to find enough votes to bring him victory.
“Dead people,” said Trump. “So the dead voted, and I think the number is close to 5,000. And they went to obituaries. They have used every possible method to get an exact number and the minimum is around 5,000 voters. “
He also claimed that Michigan voted “an enormous number of dead,” adding, “I think it was … 18,000. An incredibly high number, much higher than yours, you were in the 4-5,000 category. “
Referring to an allegation of “more than 5,000” dead voters, Raffensperger said he said it was presented to Georgia officials: “The real number was two. Two. Two dead who voted. So that’s wrong. “
Trump insisted, “In one state we have an enormous number of deaths. So I don’t know – I’m sure we in Georgia too. I’m sure we’ll do the same in Georgia. “
Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows said to Raffensperger: “They say there were only two dead who would vote. I can promise you there is more than that. “
Raffensperger refused to help Trump, threatening his safety. The call also put Trump in legal danger, as a prosecutor is investigating whether he violated the right to vote.
The call was part of isolated attempts to undo a defeat that Trump insists on given the overwhelming evidence the result of election fraud.
A few days after the call, on January 6, Trump urged supporters in Washington to “fight like hell” for his cause. Rioters then attacked the U.S. Capitol to halt certification of Biden’s victory, and in some cases attempted to arrest or kill officials such as Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence.
Five people died.
