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ATLANTA (AP) – As Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in as the country’s 46th president on Wednesday, Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters still believe Biden was not legitimately elected after Trump continues to argue that the election was stolen.
There is no evidence of the widespread fraud that Trump and his allies have claimed. Republican and Democratic election officials certified the election as valid. Courts have dismissed lawsuit after lawsuit, and a clear majority in Congress upheld the end result despite an emotional crowd earlier this month seeking to disrupt the process.
So who specifically demanded what? What is the proof that the 2020 election was valid and that Biden is the duly elected President of the United States?
THE “ MOST SECURE ” ELECTION IN US HISTORY
After a difficult primary season during the coronavirus pandemic, election officials were determined to ensure voters could vote safely and to step up operations to handle a massive influx of missing ballots. Postal voting has long been available in the United States, with some states restricting it to certain voters, and the process comes with safeguards so that any ineligible voter or voter who votes repeatedly will be caught and prosecuted.
In many places, election officials have added drop boxes for voters concerned about widespread mail delays. Others have proposed voting on the sidelines and a few states have chosen to send ballots to all registered voters. Although Trump and his allies have claimed these changes were intended to rig the election in favor of Democrats, Trump saw more people vote for him in 2020 than four years earlier and Republicans won seats in Congress.
One of the changes that received the most attention was the expansion of absentee voting in Pennsylvania, but it was done before the pandemic and authorized in a law passed with bipartisan support from the Republican-controlled legislature. .
State and local election officials called the November election one of in recent memory, with voting spanning days and even weeks rather than a crush of people at polling stations on election day. Even Trump’s recently deceased attorney general William Barr said he had seen no evidence of widespread fraud.
And the fact that so many voted using a paper ballot, which guarantees a record in the event of a dispute, prompted a coalition of government and election security officials, including representatives from the cybersecurity agency Department of Homeland Security, to issue a statement. calling 2020 the “safest “Election.
WORK EXAMINED, CERTIFIED RESULTS
After the vote was over, election officials counted the results and used various metrics to verify the totals, such as the number of people registered in each constituency and the number of ballots cast to make sure they added up. . For mail-in ballots, election officials looked at voter registration to make sure they were eligible to vote, and many states compared voters’ signatures to those recorded.
Any discrepancies were investigated and the results presented to local election commissions and ultimately to the state to certify the accuracy of the results. This has happened across the country largely without controversy, except in a few instances where Republicans have raised questions. In these cases, the concerns were dismissed as unfounded and the elections were certified.
In Georgia, Biden’s victory was verified three times: with an initial tally, a second by hand and then a recount. The state also conducted an audit of voting machines to ensure that electronically recorded votes matched the paper records submitted by voters. A limited examination of voters’ signatures revealed no evidence of widespread illegal voting.
And finally, Republican and Democratic governors approved the results, including Trump’s allies, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Gov. Doug Ducey. of Arizona who have both certified Biden to win their states.
FLOOD OF LITIGATION, FRAUD CLAIMS
Trump and his GOP supporters have suffered loss after loss in the legal system, all the way to the United States Supreme Court, as they sought to overthrow the will of voters in a few states that Trump has lost with claims not based on widespread fraud. Their cases resulted in rapid layoffs and scathing responses judges, some of whom were appointed by Republicans or Trump himself:
– US District Judge Timothy Batten in Georgia, appointed by President George W. Bush, dismissed a lawsuit alleging the votes had been manipulated in Biden’s favor, saying “they want this court to substitute its judgment for that two and a half years. million Georgian voters who voted for Joe Biden and I don’t want to.
– US circuit judge Stephanos Bibas, a former Trump-appointed law professor, wrote: “Voters, not lawyers, choose the president. The ballots, not the writs, decide the election, ”because its panel refused to grant a request to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying its results.
In more than 60 cases filed by Trump’s legal team and his Republican allies, Trump has scored only a small victory in a brawl over the deadline to provide missing proof of identity for certain mail ballots and by mail order in Pennsylvania.
His legal offers having failed, Trump attempted to appeal to elected officials in key states. He summoned Michigan lawmakers to the White House in an unsuccessful attempt to set aside the vote count. He called on the governor of Georgia to convene the state legislature to overturn the results and told Georgia’s top election official to “find ”Enough votes to influence the state in his favor.
Amidst all the demands, it should be noted that they started and ended with the presidential contest. There were no widespread calls to redo the entire election, which also included seats in Congress and Parliament.
AFTER MOB, THE CONGRESS CONFIRMS
The constant pace of false allegations of widespread fraud reached the Capitol as Congress gathered to confirm Biden’s victory, with more than 100 GOP lawmakers backing the objections.
The meeting to complete the Electoral College count is normally a routine step. But the process turned deadly as a mob thousands of Trump supporters stormed the building. With the fray cleared, lawmakers reconvened and confirmed the results before dawn the next day.
In a loud reprimand Tuesday, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said “the crowd was fed on lies. ”By Trump and others. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding from a branch of the federal government,” McConnell said. He promised a “safe and successful” inauguration of Biden.
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Izaguirre reported from Charleston, West Virginia. AP reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Boston.
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The Associated Press’s coverage of voting rights is supported in part by Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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