“If she had a fair election, she already would have won,” Clinton said, referring to the contested gubernatorial fight between Abrams and the Republican candidate, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
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Clinton made her latest assessment of election legitimacy in America in a speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas while receiving the institution’s “In the Arena Award” on Tuesday.
Abrams, who would become the state's first black female governor if elected, ended up being defeated by her Republican rival, who secured over 50 percent of votes en route to a victory. According to the official results, Kemp defeated Abrams by a 50.3 to 48.7 percent margin. However, Abrams and civil rights groups claimed Kemp might have suppressed voters after an Associated Press investigation found that Kemp's office had placed 53,000 voter registration applicants in limbo. Abrams filed a lawsuit earlier on Sunday trying to force a runoff election.
“Stacey Abrams and her radical backers will stop at nothing to undermine democracy and attempt to steal this election to be Georgia's next governor," said Cody Hall, Kemp's press secretary.
After the election and under pressure from Democrats, Kemp agreed to resign as Georgia secretary of state and removed himself from any role in overseeing the vote count.
The results of the election will not be certified by the state’s election authorities until Friday afternoon, due to a federal judge’s decision that some absentee ballots should not have been rejected because the documents were not fully completed by voters.
