Last Updated on December 17, 2020
In several videos posted to YouTube, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger begged Chinese-Americans to vote for him by mail in his 2015 Georgia House of Representatives race. Raffensperger went on to win this race by 159 votes.
The videos, apparently recorded in Raffensperger’s home, seem to be tied to Atlanta 168, a Chinese-American community located in Georgia. Raffensperger is seen in one video begging for at least 100 votes from the Chinese community, specifically suggesting they use absentee voting.
“Some of you may be going out of town,” said Raffensperger. “We brought applications today that you can fill out, we’ll even give you envelopes with a stamp on it. You can fill it out, and the Board of Elections will send you your absentee ballot, and you can just fill it out and send it back.”
“What I really am looking for is 100 votes in the Chinese-American community.” Raffensperger continued, “Out of little acorns, big trees grow.”
Only a minute later in his speech, Raffensperger again told the Chinese-American community that he needed “100 people” to vote for him to secure his victroy. He went on to win by 159 votes.
“We just need to encourage 100 people to come out and vote for me,” he went on. “It would be huge because this election is very, very tight.”
In one video, a man who apparently is a member of Atlanta 168, encourages the mostly-Chinese audience to apply for absentee ballots and vote by mail, and to take home extra applications for their friends, family, and neighbors.
“If you have friends or neighbors who would like to vote absentee, please grab some [applications] for them,” said the unidentified man in Raffensperger’s home. “It’s very easy, when I run election two years ago, this actually much, much easier for Asian voters.”
“It’s not cheating, by the law, by the law,” he continued. “They will send the ballots to your house, and you can vote it and send it back. Simple as that, you can vote in your own home.” He again suggested attendees take more absentee ballot requests home than they need, suggesting they give them to friends, family, and neighbors.
Atlanta 168 later declared the Chinese-American community instrumental to Raffensperger’s narrow victory, claiming they mobilized exactly the correct number of voters to achieve the electoral win. From Atlanta 168 via Google Translate:
According to statistics from Mike Wang, Xiao Yu of Louis Tseng Pingxin Loan, and others, the number of votes for [Raffensperger] due to the participation of the Chinese themselves or the participation of friends mobilized by the Chinese is about 160.
This past weekend, four city councillors jointly signed an open letter against [Raffensperger]. The mayor sent a special letter against Bradford. It can be said that if the Chinese are not united and do not send out, he should have lost.
They went on to note that “According to statistics, there are about 1,200 Chinese who can vote in Johns Creek. 112 people voted this time,” and, thus, “100 Chinese dominate the election!”
“Through this election, the mainstream society has felt the existence and strength of Chinese people!”
A phone call from 2015 appears to feature Raffensperger speaking Mandarin and then thanking the Chinese-American community for their support in English.
AUDIO: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called to thank the Chinese-American community for their support after begging for 100 Chinese-Americans to vote for him by mail in 2015.
He won by 159 votes. pic.twitter.com/fd5qIh2PLl
— National File (@NationalFile) December 17, 2020
“Thank you so much for supporting me in my election for House District 50. It was a close election, and your support was critical to my success. I just want to thank you for your support. Good night.”
It should be noted that National File has not been able to establish clear links between Atlanta 168 or Brad Raffensperger and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
After weeks of pressing, Raffensperger recently agreed to a limited signature matching process from the still undecided 2020 presidential election.
