Pence holds more Georgia rallies in Senate runoffs
ATLANTA — Vice President Mike Pence is seemingly holding rallies everywhere in Georgia lately.
Pence returned Thursday for events in Columbus, on the state’s western edge, and Macon, in middle Georgia, to support Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler before runoff elections on Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate.
The vice president has previously stopped in Augusta in the east, Savannah on the coast and the north Georgia cities of Gainesville and Canton, in the far reaches of metro Atlanta’s exurbs. President Donald Trump rounded out the map with a Dec. 5 rally in Valdosta, in south Georgia.
In Columbus, Pence said it was essential that Perdue and Loeffler remain in the Senate to preserve work done under the outgoing Trump administration.
“We need Georgia to send these two great senators back to Washington because of who they are, because of all that we’ve accomplished together and because a Republican Senate majority could be the last line of defense to preserve all that we’ve done for this country,” Pence said. The vice president conveyed the same message in Macon.
Meanwhile, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday announced a statewide signature-matching effort for the November election. Signatures for absentee ballots in all of Georgia’s 159 counties will be reviewed, per The Washington Times.
The University of Georgia will partner with the secretary’s office to analyze a random sampling of signatures from each county for mail-in ballots during the November election, a Thursday press release said.
The audit is expected to wrap up in two weeks.