President Joe Biden has been in office for nearly eight months, but former President Donald Trump's delusions that the 2020 election was somehow stolen from him continue to erode public faith in American democracy.
Even after these lies prompted a deadly failed insurrection against the United States Capitol, Republican-majority legislatures in a number of swing states continue to entertain the prospect of partisan audits of millions of ballots.
Arizona Republicans forced yet another audit of Maricopa County's ballots which has been marred by partisanship, secrecy, and conspiracy theories with nothing to show for claims the county was stolen from Trump.
Nevertheless, Pennsylvania Senate Republicans convened a hearing of the Intergovernmental Operations Committee to hear testimony from Fulton County, PA Board of Elections Chairman Stuart Ulsh.
Heeding calls from a Republican state Senator, Ulsh authorized a third party to audit Fulton County's ballots at the end of last year, even though Trump won Fulton County by a large margin. The audit, which was conducted by the firm Wake TSI and was funded anonymously, found no fraud in the 15,000 person county.
At one point in the hearing, Democratic state Senator Vincent Hughes asked Ulsh if any fraud was found.
Watch below.
PA -Public Hearing on the Investigation of the 2020 General Election and the 2021 Primary Electionyoutu.be
He responded:
"It's in our report, but no. Nothing was found."
The Senate-forced audit in Pennsylvania, which is now in its infancy as officials figure out its reach and policies, will be funded by taxpayers.
Democratic elected officials in the state decried the audit push on social media.
We cannot sit by while Senate Republicans spread lies, refuse to govern in our interests & pass laws to silence voices. \n\nThursday's sham review hearing showed how little Republicans cared about the truth & how much they about stoking distrust & division.https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahmimms/pennsylvania-2020-election-audit-hearing\u00a0\u2026— Senator Jay Costa (@Senator Jay Costa) 1631293200
Petition to follow this up with a "what your peddling of dangerous misinformation about the most secure election in American history says about you" quiz....@BuzzFeed? Thoughts?https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahmimms/pennsylvania-2020-election-audit-hearing\u00a0\u2026— Senator John Kane (@Senator John Kane) 1631297539
Of course the GOP would rather waste time with a BS "audit" to impress a twice-impeached one-term president than get down to the business of governing and helping people. Shameless.https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahmimms/pennsylvania-2020-election-audit-hearing\u00a0\u2026— Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta) 1631283703
Others largely sounded off against the audit.
This stuff needs to be stopped!\nPennsylvania Republicans' Attempts At A 2020 Election "Audit" Are Off To An Awkward Starthttps://www.yahoo.com/news/pennsylvania-republicans-attempts-2020-election-223927032.html\u00a0\u2026— Hannah Banana (@Hannah Banana) 1631284773
Absolutely, they could be bringing in tax revenue by voting to legalize cannabis, instead they wilfully waste our tax revenue on a sham audit and end up costing millions more in tax revenue to replace the invalidated voting machines.— E.T. Hybrid \ud83d\udc41\u2696420 (@E.T. Hybrid \ud83d\udc41\u2696420) 1631289307
A seriously irresponsible waste of my taxpayer $. #Shamefulhttps://twitter.com/malcolmkenyatta/status/1436334074625417217\u00a0\u2026— LindaVaccinated (@LindaVaccinated) 1631285218
Meanwhile, deluded Trump supporters are still convinced that further audits nationwide will somehow vindicate Trump.
Mike Lindell has been traveling state to state meeting with Attorney Generals to prepare for SCOTUS. 4 Red States are signing on to do forensic audits Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, Arizona. Mike says when States are ready, the forensic audit will move fast!pic.twitter.com/cd2HbBLmbd— JamieLynn_TrumpGrl\ud83d\udc8b (@JamieLynn_TrumpGrl\ud83d\udc8b) 1630692082
ALL future Elections should require an Audit within 30 days from the date of an election. We can not afford another Biden, ever. Audit ALL 50 States.pic.twitter.com/oCspUlW1P9— ReadB4Censored (@ReadB4Censored) 1630783492
Every Republican Governor who has half a brain should demand a Forensic Audit immediately and they will find out lunatic Biden is an illegal president. He didn't get 81 million votes. America is not stupid. We are witnessing the biggest hoax in the history of our country. pic.twitter.com/Aw7K6Joox3
— Pancho Silentman Navajo Code Talker Honest Injun (@PanchoSilentman) September 10, 2021
A number of the counties in question have already been recounted, audited, and certified. It appears any audit that doesn't conclude Trump won the election will be considered fraudulent by his supporters.
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AMC