I’m not supposed to put my thumb on the Republican side

Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, was telling the Washington Post that his strategy in administering the election was simply to follow the law:

“People made wild accusations about the voting systems that we have in Georgia,” Raffensperger said. “They were asking, ‘How do we get to 270? How do you get it to Congress so they can make a determination?’ ” But, he added, “I’m not supposed to put my thumb on the Republican side.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-overturn/2020/11/28/34f45226-2f47-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html

This is a conflation of “put my thumb on the scale” (influence something in your favor) and “taking sides” (supporting one party in a dispute). A tip of the scales to Mike Kovacs for seeing this one and sending it in.