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His messages came hours after President Donald Trump cried again, retweeting an unsubstantiated claim that an election equipment manufacturer “erased” 2.7 million votes from him nationwide.
Fulton County poll workers examine ballots while counting votes, at State Farm Arena on November 5, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – There is no evidence of compromised votes or corrupt voting systems in US elections, officials said Thursday, when a senior Democrat accused Republicans who refuse to accept President-elect Joe Biden’s victory of “poisoning” democracy.
His messages came hours after President Donald Trump cried again, retweeting an unfounded claim that an election equipment manufacturer “erased” 2.7 million votes for him nationwide.
Biden, who leads by more than five million in the popular vote, consolidated his victory Thursday night by winning Arizona, US networks said, trading the state Democrat for the first time since 1996.
Arizona gives Biden a 290-217 lead over Trump in the Electoral College, with 270 needed to win the White House.
Since most Republican lawmakers have yet to acknowledge Biden’s victory, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the House’s top Democrat, accused them Thursday of “denying reality” and “auditioning for profiles. of cowardice. “
“Instead of working to bring the country back together so that we can fight our common enemy COVID-19, Republicans in Congress are spreading conspiracy theories, denying reality, and poisoning the well of our democracy,” he said.
Meanwhile, top US federal and state election officials in a statement rejected Trump’s allegations of fraud, saying “the November 3 election was the safest in US history.”
The statement was issued by the Government Coordination Council for Electoral Infrastructure, a public-private group under the main federal electoral security body, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“There is no evidence that any voting system has removed or lost votes, changed votes, or been compromised in any way,” they said.
“While we know that there are many unsubstantiated claims and opportunities for misinformation about our election process, we can assure you that we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and so should you,” the statement said.
It was signed by the heads of the National Association of State Electoral Directors and the National Association of State Secretaries – the officials who administer elections at the state level – and by the chairman of the United States Election Assistance Commission.
‘ABSURD CIRCUS’
The statement came just hours after Trump’s retweet, which in addition to claiming 2.7 million “knocked out” votes also said hundreds of thousands had been transferred from him to Biden in Pennsylvania and other states.
It was the latest in a series of false claims Trump and Republicans have made to reject Biden’s victory.
Republican lawmakers, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have stood firm with Trump in supporting his refusal to budge and backing his legal challenges.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intervened Thursday to demand that Republicans stop what she called an “absurd circus” and dedicate herself to fighting the pandemic.
“Now that people have voiced their views, Joe Biden has won (and) Kamala Harris will be America’s first female vice president,” Pelosi said.
Political experts believe Republicans may be invoking that strategy as a way to irritate Trump’s base ahead of two US Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will determine which party controls the chamber.
A total of 161 former national security officials, including some who worked with Trump, further warned that the current administration’s continued delay in recognizing Biden’s victory represents “a serious risk to national security.”
In a letter, the group, which included former Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel and former Trump National Security Council chief counterterrorism director Javed Ali, urged General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy to acknowledge to Biden as the apparent president-elect.
Without approval from the GSA, transition funds and other resources, including access to intelligence reports, cannot flow to Biden and his team, but Murphy has refused to budge.
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