ATLANTA — Georgia is just weeks away from a historic election. Gabriel Sterling will play a key role in it.
The COO of the Republican-led Georgia Secretary of State's Office, Sterling, helps to oversee the election process statewide.
This week, he spoke one-on-one with The Georgia Vote following a news conference at the State Capitol.
"Every single vote matters," he said.
Excerpts from the conversation are below. You can watch the conversation in the video player above.
Recent State Election Board rule changes
The conservative majority on Georgia's State Election Board recently passed a slew of new rules impacting election procedures. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger -- a Republican -- has criticized the moves, arguing they come too close to Election Day and risk creating confusion for poll workers.
Sterling made a similar argument when asked about one of the new rules requiring a hand count of ballots.
"I think it's not a bad idea in concept but you need a lot of time and training to do it," he said. "Doing it at the last minute is a little more irresponsible than we'd like to see."
Here's what he said in an exchange about potential friction between the State Election Board and the Secretary of State's Office.
11Alive's Zach Merchant: "Do you worry that the State Election Board and the Secretary of State's Office are at loggerheads about some major election issues this close to Election Day?"
Gabriel Sterling: "Yes. I think this independent election board was a good idea but in practice it hasn't really worked very well, we don't think. The whole intention of it was to make sure elections run smoothly. And that's why the Secretary of State was chairman for about 60 years of the board and it worked really well for like 60 years. Now, we've got some issues and I know everybody's operating from a good faith of where they believe the world is. But it's difficult at times to, if you're not seeing eye-to-eye, to make sure that elections run great."
Impact of 2020 election
Sterling rose to national prominence in 2020 as former president Donald Trump and others contested the results of the election. Democratic and Republican officials, including Mr. Trump's own appointed Attorney General Bill Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread fraud that would have altered the outcome of the race.
Speaking this week, Sterling said the Secretary of State's Office is using the lessons of 2020 to prepare for the upcoming general election.
"I think we're more prepared for the potential outcomes or threats that could come this time because in 2020 it was all new," he said. "Now we can kind of see a lot of it coming and we see a lot of the foundation getting laid for it, which is why we're being so transparent, why we're working so hard on educating voters and why we're ready to stand behind the outcome of this election no matter who wins, no matter who loses, because every single voter matters and every single vote matters."
Security measures in place for election workers
Earlier this year, Cobb County's election director revealed her office had purchased panic buttons for staff.
Sterling said election officials are paying heightened attention to potential security concerns this year.
Sterling: "We always worry about that. I mean, it's not just poll workers, it's election workers at Election Day offices because we always worry about having bomb threats there too. But we've already instituted a tool, a texting tool, that every poll manager has for every county that opts in that notifies us with real information. A panic button is great. The problem is a panic button gives you no context. Is there just a jerk in the polling location yelling or is there a guy with a gun outside? So, we have a texting tool that will go to the county elections director, the state elections director, and local law enforcement.
So everybody's on the same page as quickly as possible with as much context as possible. But we worry about it all the time. We've gotten Narcan to every single office in Georgia after we had the . . . the fentanyl letter sent out. So, it's always on our minds."
When asked whether elections always required such planning, Sterling said no.
"It's a difficult situation but Georgians are resilient," he said. "Our elections workers are great and the United States is resilient. We'll get through this like we've gotten through every other situation we've dealt with in the past."
You can watch The Georgia Vote every Sunday at 11 a.m. on 11Alive.