GA Secretary of State Raffensperger: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is acknowledging, tongue in cheek, that actor Larry David may be the first person to be arrested for violating a new Georgia election law. 

Georgia officials are reacting to an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. David is the creator and star of the show. The show is in its twelfth and final season. In the season opener, Larry is in Atlanta on election day. His sidekick, Leon, has an aunt who lives there. She goes to vote and is seen standing in a long line of voters, outside the polling place. Larry and Leon come by and she complains about the long wait to vote standing out in the sun. She’s thirsty. Larry gets a bottle of water and hands it to her. 

That’s when Larry is arrested for violating the Election Integrity Act. 

“You’re under arrest for violation of the Election Integrity Act,” says an officer, who adds: “It is illegal for anyone in the state of Georgia to provide food or water to voters in line in the polls.”

“What?” an incredulous David says as officers grab his arms to drag him away. “That’s barbaric — what kind of law? Are you serious?”

He’s hauled to the Fulton County Jail, where he takes a spray-tanned mug shot modeled off Donald Trump’s famed scowl. “I was just being cordial!” David screams as he’s led away.

I’m a fan of the show. I watched the episode and thought that it was a predictable slam against Georgia’s election reform laws. Larry David is a proud progressive Democrat and this kind of narrative is normal – he takes the DNC talking points and works them into his show when politics come up. 

Democrats have misrepresented the new law banning food and water from campaigns or outside groups from being distributed to voters as they wait in line. Water bottles without campaign logos are allowed. Democrats twisted the ban to say that voters have to wait in line, uncomfortable with thirst. Please. This nonsense started when the legislation was signed into law by Governor Kemp. Larry is beating a dead horse. 

The law went into effect in 2021. A provision forbids distribution of food or beverages to voters waiting within 150 feet of a polling site. Larry’s arrest was an exaggeration of the ban. It’s comedy, that’s what comedians do for laughs. He is seen as a hero. He is praised by Georgia election denier Stacey Abrams and the actress Sienna Miller over the next few episodes.

So, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger decided to have a little fun as he corrected Larry David.

“We apologize if you didn’t receive celebrity treatment at the local jail,” Raffensperger wrote in a letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through a public records request. “I’m afraid they’ve gotten used to bigger stars. It’s the TMZ of mugshots.”

Raffensperger’s letter, sent last month, went on to encourage David to encourage Leon’s aunt to employ the “chat and cut” strategy to skip places in line — a throwback to a pet peeve of David’s from the show’s eighth season in 2018.

“Given the obvious concern you have about access to voting in Georgia, you’ll be glad to hear that waiting times for all voters, including Leon’s aunt, in the last two major elections were under two minutes, even as we experienced record turnout.”

That’s right. Despite Democrats’ wailing about voter suppression,  there have been record turnouts and voting is running smoothly in Georgia, thank you very much. 

Raffensperger went on to include a little snark about his role in the 2020 presidential election.

“Whether wanted or unwanted, I know you’ve received a lot of attention related to your actions in a Georgia election. Believe me, I understand,” Raffensperger wrote.

“And while my powers as secretary of state to perform miracles are often overstated,” he wrote, “I’m afraid I lack the authority to grant a pardon — even if you call me to ask for one.”

Raffensperger mocked Democrats’ ramped-up rhetoric that the rule is a threat to public health. He said he hoped that Leon’s aunt “avoided tragic death.”  Heh. 

This episode, though, indicates that the show has gotten stale. This issue isn’t a new one, it’s from 2021. There have been elections since it went into effect, as the Raffensperger noted. Everything is working out. Larry David despises Donald Trump and that sometimes has shown up in his shows. It’s probably just as well that the show is ending since Trump’s re-election is looking pretty good at this point.