| Trump asks Georgia's secretary of state to overturn the election; Africa's Covid-19 situation is worsening. Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg. | | | | | | | Trump calls on a Georgia official to "find" him more votes | | | | | | - In the latest of President Donald Trump's futile attempts to overturn the results of the November election, Trump said on a recorded phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that he wanted him to "find" more than 11,000 votes to flip the state into his hands. [Washington Post / Amy Gardner]
- President-elect Joe Biden carried Georgia by 11,779 votes, the first time a Democrat has won the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Of course, Georgia alone wouldn't deliver the presidency to Trump because Biden had secured the necessary 270 electoral votes before Georgia was called. [CNN / Jason Morris, Chandelis Duster, and Devan Cole]
- Raffensperger, a Republican who said he voted for the president, has held to his principles of election integrity throughout the post-election process. Georgia did a recount of its votes in early December, and Biden's narrow win in the state was upheld. [NPR / Stephen Fowler]
- The Washington Post published the full audio from the call, which lasted just over an hour. Trump tweeted on Sunday morning that Raffensperger was "unable, or unwilling, to answer questions" related to various baseless claims surrounding election fraud. [Vox / Cameron Peters]
- Georgia counted its votes three times in total before certifying Biden's victory. Raffensperger said as much on the call, telling the president, "we've had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. We don't agree that you have won." [AP / Jeff Amy, Darlene Superville, and Kate Brumback]
- Raffensperger said after the call that he doesn't believe it was appropriate for Trump to speak with him about election results, especially while the president's ongoing lawsuits over the Georgia results are ongoing. He added that White House staff pushed for the call and that Trump did most of the talking. [NBC News / Rebecca Shabad]
- The timing of the call is interesting considering the two US Senate runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday that could determine the Senate majority. Both Trump and Biden are campaigning in Georgia on Monday. [Washington Post / John Wagner and Paulina Firozi]
- Sen. David Perdue, running for reelection against Jon Ossoff, said it was "disgusting" for Raffensperger to record the call with Trump. He and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, running against Rev. Raphael Warnock, have both aligned themselves closely with the president. [Politico / Nick Niedźwiadek]
| | | Africa may be next in line for a new Covid-19 surge | | - A new mutation of the Sars-CoV-2 virus found in South Africa has raised alarm because of its high rate of transmission. [Guardian / Sarah Boseley]
- South Africa's health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the new South African variant is cause for great concern, even more so than the new strain that led to a new spike in cases in the United Kingdom. [CNBC / Holly Ellyatt]
- Most African countries have not formally registered their death counts from Covid-19. France has recorded more deaths than any of Africa's 54 countries, but most of Africa has not even attempted to estimate mortality. [NYT / Ruth Maclean]
- A new Covid-19 variant is also circulating in Nigeria, which is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases. Nigerian virologist Sunday Omilabu, who is gathering information about the variant, said more new variants are likely to emerge. [AP / Lekan Oyekanmi]
- Masks and social distancing have largely been ignored in Somalia, where infections are currently rising. Somalia also has one of the lowest test rates in the world — fewer than 27,000 of its more than 15 million people have been tested. [AP / Hassan Barise]
| | | | | | | Nancy Pelosi was re-elected speaker of the House after the Democratic Party narrowly maintained its majority in the 2020 elections. | | | [CBS News / Grace Segers, Jordan Freiman, and Melissa Quinn] - Several Republican senators, led by Ted Cruz of Texas, are planning to contest the Electoral College results on Wednesday, even though there is essentially no chance the results will be thrown out. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will not challenge the results. [The Hill / Alexander Bolton]
- Amid surging coronavirus cases, England and Scotland are imposing new lockdowns to go into effect Tuesday. In England, schools will remain closed and people will only be permitted to leave their homes for approved reasons until at least mid-February, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced. [BBC / Nick Triggle]
- Hundreds of employees at Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced Monday that they are forming a union, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. [NYT / Kate Conger]
- The 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, commonly known as March Madness, will be held entirely at six venues in the state of Indiana. [Indianapolis Star / Matthew Glenesk]
| | | | | "People still go and party. They still go to the club and without putting on face masks. We talk of social distancing, people are not respecting that. We talk of using face masks. People are not doing that. You see them in the market places, they are not doing that. So how do you now control it?" | | | | | | | | | | |
Let's close out 2020 by looking back at the moments that inspired us and changed us in a year unlike any other. [YouTube / Kim Mas] | | | | | | | | |  | This email was sent to edwardlorilla1986.paxforex@blogger.com. Manage your email preferences, or unsubscribe to stop receiving all emails from Vox. If you value Vox's unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.
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