A top Georgia Republican, who publicly fought back against Donald Trump's unfounded election fraud claims in 2020, said he wants to sound the alarm over the possibility that the former president may challenge this year's election result again, if he loses.
Former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan claimed that Mr Trump and his allies have started to "sow seeds of doubt" in the US election system.
"I worry that they are going to try cry foul again," he told RTÉ's US Election podcast States of Mind.
Mr Duncan, who voted for Mr Trump, openly criticised the Republican candidate for falsely claiming the election was stolen in Georgia four years ago.
He said that his family received death threats following the election.
Last year, he testified before the Fulton County grand jury in the investigation of attempts by Mr Trump and others to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired and engaged in racketeering activity to overturn the results.
Mr Duncan, who served as the second highest elected official in Georgia, said he is concerned about what could play out in his home state following this year’s election.
Around a dozen people on Georgia's state election board have introduced new rules on how votes are counted and processed, including requiring poll workers hand-count ballots.
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"The MAGA crowd has hijacked our state elections board … with a series of chess moves and they’ve stacked it with three Trump supportive members and now they’ve sowed seeds of doubt," he said.
"They are now requiring hand counts [of votes] ... and taking a very secure sterile machine counting environment and injecting human error into it. That’s just for the sole reason of creating doubt," he added.
While, according to research, nearly two thirds of Republican voters believe that election 2020 was stolen from Mr Trump, Mr Duncan said that the country is "better than this".
"I just hope our country can rise above this moment," he said.
"I hope our party can rise above this. We're better than this" he added.
Listen to the latest episode of RTÉ's States of Mind, or download from wherever you get your podcasts.
