Georgia fears midterm interference as Trump keeps election fraud claims alive

Georgia has become a test case for fears that the US midterms could be undermined by Donald Trump's false claims about election fraud and by efforts to reshape how votes are run.

The state was at the centre of Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential result. In a now infamous phone call, he pressed Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to find more than 11,000 votes. Raffensperger refused. He has said his job is not to guarantee who the victor will be, but to make sure the winner is the winner.

The fallout from 2020 still hangs over the state. The January 6 attack on the Capitol followed Trump's election defeat. His opponents say his recurring attacks on the election system make people less likely to vote or trust the outcome. They warn of unrest and possible violence, and some link the climate to assassination attempts on the president.

Trump has not stopped questioning US elections. He said the system was rigged when he lost in 2020 and has worked to change it since. Asked whether he would send armed troops to polling stations for the midterms, he has not ruled it out. Asked by Time magazine whether he would rule out declaring a state of emergency before the midterms, he replied: 'I don't rule anything out or in, we'll see.'

Elections in Georgia are run by the state, but Trump has tried to impose federal controls, including restrictions on voting by mail, which would tend to hurt his opponents. Ahead of the midterms, he also triggered a wave of redistricting, redrawing the voting map.

In Georgia, the election board now has five members. Two are so-called election deniers. One is Sally Gross, whose political journey began with a video that claimed ballots were being shredded at Jim Miller Park. She and a friend chased a shredding truck, an episode she compared to Thelma and Louise. Election officials said the only paper shredded was waste paper, such as used envelopes. The conspiracy theory went viral anyway.

Gross rejects the label of conspiracy theorist. She says people need to be involved as poll watchers and to provide oversight. Asked whether voters can trust the integrity of the midterms, she said: 'I am a big believer in trust but verify.' She added that it was not a yes or no question.

Federal scrutiny has also returned to Georgia. FBI agents raided an election centre in Fulton County in January as part of an investigation into whether the election Trump lost was conducted fairly. Tulsi Gabbard, then director of national intelligence, joined the agents, although the role mainly covers foreign threats. It is unclear why she was there. Trump has since claimed China interfered in 2020, contradicting his own intelligence community.

Democrats in Georgia and across the US are preparing for possible interference. They have identified more than 150 scenarios. Lawyers have laid the ground for legal challenges. In Fulton County, locals gave a mix of anxiety and defiance. One said the election system was broken and vulnerable. Another said: 'if Trump was Obama, he would have been on a spike by now.'