Trump and Republicans distrust midterm results

• Trump and his allies spent months preparing to falsely claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
• In the weeks leading up to 2022, some Republicans have used similar, dishonest language.
• The article unjustifiably questioned absentee-ballot data without explanation.

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump questioned Pennsylvania’s midterm election. he wrote. “Fraud!”

Trump’s evidence? An unrigged right-wing news item. The article unjustifiably questioned absentee-ballot data without explanation.

Trump and his allies spent months preparing to falsely claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen. In the weeks running up to Election Day 2022, some Republicans have used similar, dishonest language.

Trump is not the only Republican spreading unfounded rumors about the midterms in Pennsylvania, which could determine Senate control.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who has often propagated phony conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, stated on a right-wing show monitored by liberal organization Media Matters for America: “That’s an attempt to get the fix in.”

Not. As Chapman highlighted, counting votes takes time, especially since the Republican-controlled state legislature has failed to enact a no-strings-attached bill to allow counties to begin processing mail-in ballots before Election Day.

Others joined in. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted a link to an article regarding Chapman’s statements and asked, “Why is it only Democrat blue cities that take ‘days’ to count their votes? The rest of the nation succeeds on election night.”

Cruz’s claim is untrue even without considering that big cities, which tend to trend Democratic, have significantly more votes than tiny rural counties, which tend to lean Republican.

As PolitiFact reported, many counties, including some Republican counties in Cruz’s state of Texas, do not finish their vote counts on election night. Many counties cannot complete election night counts.

Even even of the most Republican states count absentee ballots (or, in some cases, military and abroad citizen ballots) that come days after Election Day if they are postmarked before Election Day. Some states, including Republican-led ones, enable voters days after Election Day to repair signature errors or submit identity proof.

American election officials do not announce winners or vote totals on election night. Media outlets estimate with incomplete data.

Detroit’s vote validity

Trump and others have spread 2020 conspiracies about Detroit and other Democratic-dominated cities with substantial Black populations. The Republican contender for Michigan elections chief is already questioning tens of thousands of Detroit votes in 2022.

Kristina Karamo, a 2020 election denier and Republican candidate for Michigan secretary of state, filed a lawsuit less than two weeks before Election Day asking a court to “halt” the use of absentee ballots in Detroit if they weren’t obtained in person at a clerk’s office and declare that only those ballots can be “validly voted” in this election. In a state where citizens have the right to mail-in absentee ballots, such request might invalidate thousands of Detroiters’ legal votes.

Karamo’s lawyer vaguely sweetened the request during final arguments on Friday, The Detroit News reported. Other notable Republicans have avoided the case.

The suit allows Karamo, who is lagging in polls, to baselessly deny defeat.