MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As the presidential race is on to reach 270 of those electoral college votes—11 of those are from Tennessee, which has already been called in favor of President Trump—WREG spoke to a local republican and democratic elector to get their take on how this election is playing out.
As the final mail-in, military and provisional ballots in several states are tallied, there’s uncertainty. This comes as Trump makes claims of voter fraud, claims that have not been proven.
Republican Terry Roland, who says he’s been a Tennessee elector the last eight years, believes much of the problems come down to the media.
“Even like last night the president was talking and the fake news cut him off. Half now, half, at least half of this country is sick of it,” Roland said.
Roland believes voter fraud is happening in states like Georgia, where Biden has edged out Trump with more votes. Georgia’s governor and secretary of state are Republican.
The secretary of state there, Brad Raffensberger, pushed back against any claims of voter fraud today, saying they haven’t seen any widespread irregularities.
Roland also said polls before the election showing Biden leading Trump was a form of voter suppression.
“Y’all put it out hoping that people would say ‘well, there’s no chance in us winning so we’re not going to go vote.’ That’s how you suppress the vote,” Roland said.
Gale Jones Carson, a 2020 Democratic elector, calls the voter fraud claims by the president scary.
“It’s unfortunate, It’s really unfortunate, because it creates such a divide in our country which is already there, and I’m very concerned,” Carson said.
She says Trump alleging fraud is a tactic, and the country needs healing.
“If Biden should win, he and Kamala will make sure that they bring peace and calm to our country, which is greatly needed,” Carson said.
Roland said Republicans will not let this go, and this election is not over by any means. Georgia plans to have a recount.