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Denver (AP) —No shock Ron Hanks, MP When Mesa County Secretary Tina Peters Easily lost a recent Republican primary in Colorado for the US Senate and Secretary of State.
Hanks Spent 14 to 1 by his rivals. PetersCompeting to become Colorado’s highest-ranking civil servant, she was charged with seven felony charges, alleging that she helped coordinate a hard drive breach in the voting system.
But last week, both candidates formally requested a recount of the primaries from June 28th. This suggests widespread irregularities not found in their campaigns and anyone other than their allies.
“There is reason to believe that there was a major fraud in the June 2022 primary,” Peters wrote in a recount request. First state-wide and local primaries. “
America First is, among other things, a coalition of conservative candidates and executives that encourages the falsehood that Democrat Joe Biden did not win the 2020 presidential election.
This idea has penetrated deeply into this year’s Republican primary and has unveiled a new political strategy among a number of candidates to run on a platform that denies President Donald Trump’s defeat two years ago. Since some of those candidates lose their own race, they have reached a new frontier of refusal by claiming that their primaries are also fraudulent.
“There is a clear reason they are doing it, and it’s a much broader and more coordinated attack on voting freedom across the country,” said Joanna Lidogate of the United States Union Action. Her group is supporting election authorities to recognize the validity of the 2020 elections.
Lidogate pointed out that she teaches youth basketball and added another reason. “Really, this is a loser and people who don’t want to accept defeat.”
The main losers have an obvious role model: Trump himself.
Unfounded Trump at a caucuses in Iowa after losing the first election when he ran for the White House in 2016 Claimed fraud and demanded investigation..When he was elected president later that year, he claimed that fraud was the reason. Democratic Hillary Clinton I got more votes than he did. Trump has set up a committee to prove it. That committee Disbanded when evidence could not be submitted.
After the 2020 defeat, Trump and his supporters lost 63 of the 64 legal objections in the election.Trump continued Condemn fraud without evidenceEven after him Attorney General When Election review In state We were unable to reveal a wide range of fraud that could affect the outcome.
This year’s post-primary refusal could be a preview of November when Republicans face Democrats in thousands of races across the country. Republicans are expected to work — hopes that some of those candidates could set the stage for more false claims of fraud when they lose.
Still, some Republicans aren’t waiting for Democratic voters to join before claiming unfounded fraud.
Some of the recent candidates who have done that are relatively marginal.
In Georgia, two Trump recruits to challenge the Governor and Secretary of State, former Senator David Perdue and former Republican Jody Hice, are defeated after losing the May primary. I admitted. However, Fringe candidate Kandis Taylor, who won only 3% of the governor’s primary, refused his concession, claiming there was widespread misconduct.
In South Carolina, Republican Harrison Muscle White (passing by Tracker Bob) lost 66 percent to Governor Henry McMaster. Still, he complained about the issue of elections to the party, as did Lauren Martel, another Republican candidate who ran for Attorney General. The party rejected their claim.
Others who screamed for fraud are more noticeable.
Joey Gilbert, who finished second in the Nevada Republican Governor’s primary, I posted a Facebook video a few days after the June tally He showed him a shortage of 26,000 votes. “These elections, the way they were done, it’s like Swiss cheese,” he said. “There are too many holes.”
Gilbert, A person attending a Trump rally near the White House on January 6, 2021Requested a recount before the riots at the US Capitol.The result is displayed It is unlikely that the final aggregate will change significantly.. He did not return a message asking for comment.
Former newscaster in Arizona Cali Lake He claimed to have been elected president in 2020 and won Trump’s support for the party’s governor nomination. Last week, she told her supporters that the top primary opponent “may be trying to set another stage for theft.” Primary of the month.
It brought her a rebuke from Governor Doug DuceyRepublican in support of Lake’s main rival, Karrin Taylor Robson.
“The 2022 elections haven’t taken place yet, and there’s already speculation about the outcome, especially if a particular candidate loses,” Ducey tweeted. “That’s one of the most irresponsible things I can imagine.”
The Lake campaign did not return a message asking for comment.
In Colorado, County Secretary Peters immediately questioned the key results after the count showed that she was badly defeated in the Secretary of State’s race. Peters alleged fraud when pursuing former county secretary Pamela Anderson, a regular debunker in Trump’s elections, saying, “The results clearly show that we need to turn it over.” rice field.
She and Senator Hanks repeated the lies of Trump’s election. It was in a position of strong support last spring in the Republican Party’s 3,000 strong state legislatures attended by the party’s strongest activists. Both candidates quoted their support in a letter requesting the Secretary of State to recount last week in explaining why they could not lose the primary.
Hanks introduced reporters to the media email addresses of the two candidates, but no one responded to the questions sent to those addresses.
The activists attending Republican rallies are just a few of the 600,000 people who voted in the June primary. According to preliminary results, Peters lost 88,000 votes and Hanks lost 56,000 votes.
Their recount letter provided why the candidates believed that their vote counts were “artificially controlled.”
The Colorado Secretary of State’s office said the recount would cost $ 236,000 per candidate. As of Friday night, neither candidate had paid the deadline set by the office to receive the money, said spokeswoman Annie Orlov.
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