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On Monday, President Donald Trump continued to tweet unsubstantiated claims about the vote count, targeting four states he has already lost or where he is behind President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump has refused to concede the election and is instead pushing a narrative of widespread voter fraud by Democrats without providing evidence. While The Associated Press and other media outlets have already declared Biden the national winner, Trump has filed legal challenges in several states and has repeatedly made a barrage of false or dubious claims about the election process and the mail-in ballot counting. .
On Monday afternoon, he tweeted about Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Here’s a look at the four states:
What Trump Said: “Georgia will be a great presidential victory, since it was Election Night!”
The reality: Trump led Tuesday night, but tens of thousands of ballots still remained to be counted, mostly from Democratic strongholds or areas where Democrats have made progress in recent years. Biden edged out Trump on Friday and led by about 11,600 votes Monday afternoon, although the AP has not called the race. There is no evidence of large-scale voter fraud or reason to believe that ballots counted after Tuesday are invalid.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said in a statement Monday: “The process of reporting the results has been ordered and has followed the law. Where there have been specific allegations of illegal voting, my office has sent investigators. ”
Georgia’s two Republican senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler issued a joint statement Monday demanding Raffensperger’s resignation. Both Perdue and Loeffler face a January runoff that will decide control of the United States Senate. Raffensperger responded that he would not resign.
What Trump Said: “Nevada is turning out to be a cesspool of false votes. @Mschlapp and @AdamLaxalt are finding things that, when published, will be absolutely shocking.” He tagged two allies, American Conservative Union President Matt Schlapp and former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt.
The reality: Laxalt on Monday declined to immediately comment on the tweet. Standing in front of a crowd of protesters waving signs shouting “God bless Trump,” Laxalt and Schlapp held a press conference Sunday on voter fraud, but did not provide new evidence and reiterated earlier claims made in lawsuits and on social media. .
Three complaints were received and sent to the Nevada secretary of state’s office for investigation, said a spokesman for Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. One involved a man whose ballot was signed by his daughter, and another involved a woman whose handwriting and signature did not match those in county records. The third was from a woman who said she was denied early voting after officials determined a mail-in ballot with her signature had already been received.
The AP has called Nevada for Biden, who was leading Trump by about 36,000 votes.
What Trump Said: “Pennsylvania kept us from seeing much of the ballot count. Unthinkable and illegal in this country ”.
The reality: Republicans sued the city of Philadelphia over how close they could get to poll workers processing the ballots. A state judge ordered the city to allow observers to get within 1.8 meters (6 feet) of the poll workers. The city appealed, citing concerns about worker safety amid the coronavirus pandemic and the potential for intimidation.
But Republican lawyers acknowledged in court that they had observers in Philadelphia, as did Democrats. The count in Philadelphia was also broadcast live.
Trump fell behind by 45,000 votes in Pennsylvania, which the AP has asked of Biden.
What Trump Said: “Wisconsin looks great. You need a little statutory time. It will happen soon! @Reince @SeanDuffyWI ”He tagged his former White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and former US Republican Representative Sean Duffy.
The reality: Biden defeated Trump by about 20,500 votes in Wisconsin, a margin of about six-tenths of a point. That’s within the 1-point margin allowed for the losing candidate to request a recount, something the Trump campaign has said it intends to follow. However, Trump cannot request the recount until all 72 counties in the state have completed counting the ballot, likely on November 17.
Election research conducted by AP found that there have been at least 31 recounts statewide since 2000. Three of them changed the outcome of the elections. The starting margins in those races were 137 votes, 215 votes and 261 votes.
Associated Press editors Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis .; Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
