ATLANTA (Jan. 6, 2021) — Our country’s long and proud history of peaceful and democratic transitions is being tested by the events unfolding inside the U.S. Capitol, which was put on lockdown after protestors stormed the building.
While The Carter Center supports Americans’ right to protest peacefully, it strongly condemns threats or violence of any sort.
We call on the mob inside the Capitol building to disband immediately and on all protestors to respect the 6 p.m. curfew. As many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have said, the democratic process of certifying the election results must be allowed to continue.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, voters participated in the November 2020 election in record numbers. The process of counting and verifying the accuracy of the results has been completed, and the extensive legal challenges have been resolved, resulting in Joe Biden being declared the winner.
All Americans should be proud of what was accomplished. Although there is no doubt that the entire process has been credible, there has been an historically unprecedented and damaging effort to deny and reverse the expressed will of the people. This has put significant strain on our democratic system and created ill-founded doubt among millions of Americans about the integrity of the elections.
As we have done throughout our history, it is now time to support a peaceful transition and work together toward a prosperous and shared future.
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The Carter Center
Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.
A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
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