It's been more than a year since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to current President Joe Biden, prompting Trump to spew an incessant onslaught of falsehoods centering on the delusion that Democrats coordinated with election software companies and foreign countries to "steal" the election from Trump.
Partisan audits in Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia only further affirmed Biden's victory, despite Trump's baseless insistence that widespread fraud tipped the election to Biden in each of those states.
Through statements from his spokeswoman Liz Harrington, Trump continues to peddle his fraud fantasies. Many of his supporters believe him and have subsequently been calling for audits of their own.
Such was the case in South Carolina—a state Trump won—when the Lexington County Republican Party requested an audit of their county's 2020 election results, insisting that Trump won by an even larger margin than the 69 percent already reported.
But the South Carolina Republican party denied that request, instead opting for a tactic that's grown all too familiar: expanded restrictions on voting.
The state party passed a resolution calling for the reduction of valid reasons to vote by mail, the expansion of voter ID requirements, and the purging of voter rolls before the 2022 midterms.
While the South Carolina GOP may have rejected the audit proposal, there are still concerns about its efforts to limit voting rights in the state.
The @SCGOP wants to control all county election commissions, reduce the # of reasons to vote by mail, only allow 7 days of early voting & purge voter rolls to remove people.
We need to expand voting rights, not restrict them.
Our Democracy is at risk.
https://t.co/yvv7D1588H
— Gary M. Votour (@Gary4GovSC) December 14, 2021
Basically, if you are not a well off family w/time, flexibility in work schedules, & transportation to get to precincts, the GOP doesn't care if you vote. They are making voting harder for rural families, the poor, the elderly, & those working inflexible jobs/or multiple jobs.
— Howling Mad Murdock Resists🌊 (@MurdockResists) December 14, 2021
A red county that overwhelming went R for Trump used requesting an expensive forensic audit as a means to push slashing anything that makes voting easier! Only allowing absentee/early voting 7days b/f an election, certainly is aimed at many working 2jobs.https://t.co/BCj0x4konC
— Amelia Have❤️Heart (@AviFlyGirl) December 14, 2021
Americans are growing more and more weary at the prospect of further election audits—and of Trump supporters' calls for them.
Trump loyalists are knocking on voters' doors in the latest quest to find fraud in the 2020 election. Their own audits didn’t have the outcome they wanted so now they harass people at home. It’s so pathetic!!!!https://t.co/YBn5ywgUg8
— Dutchy Patrick (@DutchyPatrick) December 19, 2021
Republicans demand election audits when the outcome isn't to their liking. pic.twitter.com/DJe3cjlCSO
— Jeffrey Levin (@jilevin) December 16, 2021
.@JoshMandelOhio learned nothing from the Maricopa ballot review.
No one is against election transparency. What they are against is very poorly laid out fraud claims being used to justify audits, which are then poorly run by individuals that no nothing about election procedures. https://t.co/wbdOmpaJ90
— The AZ - abc15 - Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) December 17, 2021
Frequently using violent imagery, Bannon and his guests promote new ways of trying to overturn the election, such as demanding “audits” of the 2020 ballots. https://t.co/IHZIcQ0O8a
— James Bandler (@bandler_james) December 13, 2021
The issue here isn't just the hypocrisy. It's the fact that over the past year we've seen numerous audits that show that the election was fair and secure and -- to the extent that people try to cheat -- they're caught!
Yet insane conspiracy theories still find traction.
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) December 14, 2021
Why oh why are the Republicans and big donors still placating Diaper Don with these audits. It’s totally ridiculous! We all know it’s just to keep the big lie in the news. Hey, I’ve got an idea, arrest him for trying to pull off a coup. That will clear this up.
— Stella Parton (@StellaParton) September 25, 2021
Meanwhile, Trump and his allies continue to peddle the fantasy that the election was "stolen."
