Ga. Sec. of State at center of Trump's election pressure to speak at Furman on Wednesday

TRAVELERS REST, S.C. – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was at the center of Donald Trump's election pressure campaign, will speak at Furman University on Wed., Sept. 6.

(Note: Tickets required. See below for more details.)

Raffensperger rose to national prominence in the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in which the incumbent president, Donald Trump, lost. Rather than accepting defeat, Trump refused, making false claims of fraud and launching an unsuccessful and protracted campaign to overturn the election results.

As part of this campaign, Trump made a recorded phone call on January 2, 2021, in which he attempted to persuade Raffensperger to change the election results in Georgia in Trump's favor, pressuring him to "find 11,780 votes." Raffensperger refused, claiming that the outgoing president's claims were based on falsehoods.

Larry Norden, senior director of Elections and Government at the Brennan Center for Justice, will join Raffensperger, with the two speakers "discuss[ing] threats and necessary reforms to our voting system in order to ensure free, fair, and secure elections."

The annual StraightTalk series event, hosted by Furman's The Riley Institute and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, is part of a three-part series bringing together high-level experts on national security, elections, and U.S. democracy to discuss the current state and possible fate of our democratic system of government.

Raffensperger and Norden will speak on Wed., Sept. 6 from 6:30 - 7:45 p.m. at McAlister Auditorium on the Furman University campus, located at 3300 Poinsett Pawrkway.

Tickets to the event are $15 ($10 for OLLI members) and can be purchased here.