It's been more than six months since former President Donald Trump left office, but his lie that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him by Democrats engaging in widespread fraud continues to have national consequences.
The most searing example is the partisan audit of ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, where now-President Joe Biden narrowly won by just over two points in results that were repeatedly recounted and verified by election officials before Republican state senators forced the county into yet another audit.
This audit is run by Cyber Ninjas, a security firm with no elections experience and whose executive posted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election online. The audit has gone on for months, hemorrhaging support within the Republican party.
One state official who initially supported the audit now calls it "embarrassing." Maricopa County's Board of Supervisors—a majority conservative body—has railed against the conspiratorial nature of the audit, with some of the audit officials even searching for bamboo fibers to support fantasies that ballots were imported from Asia.
Now, a Republican former Secretary of State can be added to the list of Republicans opposing the audit, judging by comments made regarding a recent report for the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center.
Kentucky's former Secretary of State Trey Grayson said calling the process an "audit" was a "disservice," continuing:
"Nothing that that report says should be given any kind of credence. ... As a Republican, as an election administrator, I worry about our country. I'm worried about the future of my party. And I don't want bad ideas like this running to other states."
He isn't alone in his evaluation.
The amazement was only compounded when the results of the "audit" were delayed after a number of audit officials tested positive for COVID-19.
Other swing states Trump lost are considering audits as well.
@huntichon/X
@bigugly/X
@JonCowboyBear/X
@TommyJerry4000/X