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 legally elected after Trump went on to claim that the election was stolen.
There is no evidence of the widespread fraud alleged by Trump and his allies. Republican and Democratic election officials confirmed the election as valid. Courts have rejected lawsuits after lawsuits, and a clear majority in Congress confirmed the final outcome despite a riotous crowd earlier this month seeking to disrupt the process.
Who then claimed exactly? What is the proof that the 2020 election was valid and Biden is the duly elected President of the United States?
THE ‘SAFEST’ ELECTION IN US HISTORY
After a rocky primary season that unfolded during the coronavirus pandemic, election officials were determined to ensure voters could vote safely, and increase operations to deal with a massive influx of absent votes. Absence of voting has long been available in the US, and some states restrict it to certain voters, and the process has guarantees so that every voter or voter who is not eligible to vote is caught and prosecuted.
In many places, election officials have added a box for voters worried about major delays in the post. Others offered ballot boxes and some states preferred to send votes to all registered voters. Although Trump and his allies claim that these changes are designed to advance the election in favor of Democrats, Trump saw by 2020 that more people were voting for him than four years earlier and won Republican seats in Congress.
One of the changes that most investigated was the expansion of the absence of votes in Pennsylvania, but this was done before the pandemic and approved in a law passed with dual support by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature.
State and local election officials called the November election one of the smoothest in recent memory, with votes spread over days and even weeks rather than a pressure on polling stations on election day. Even Trump’s recently deceased attorney general, William Barr, said he sees no evidence of widespread fraud.
And the fact that so many people voted using a paper ballot, which guarantees a record in the event of a dispute, guarantees a coalition of government and election security officials, including representatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s cyber security agency, to to issue a statement calling 2020 the “safest “Election.
REVIEW WORK, RESULTS CERTIFIED
After the poll ended, election officials counted the results and used various measures to verify the totals, such as looking at how many people signed up for each district and how many ballots were issued to ensure it picked up. For postal letters, election workers checked the voter registration to ensure that they were entitled to vote, and that many states matched the signatures of the voters.
Any discrepancies were investigated and the results were submitted to local election councils and eventually to the state to confirm the results as accurate. This has happened across the country, largely without controversy, except for a few instances in which Republicans have raised questions. In these cases, the concerns were dismissed as without merit and the election was confirmed.
In Georgia, Biden’s victory was confirmed three times: with an initial score, a second by hand and then a score. The state also conducted an audit of voting machines to ensure that the votes cast by voters match electronically. A limited review of voters’ signatures found no evidence of widespread illegal voting.
And finally, Republican and Democratic governors signed the results, including Trump allies Government Brian Kemp of Georgia and Government Doug Ducey of Arizona who both certified that Biden won their states.
FLOW OF VALIDATION, CLAIMS OF AMOUNT
Trump and his GOP supporters suffered loss after loss in the justice system, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, because they wanted to reverse the will of voters in some states that Trump lost with unfounded allegations of widespread fraud. Their cases yielded swift dismissals and sharp answers of judges, some of whom were appointed by Republicans or Trump himself:
Georgia District Court Judge Timothy Batten, a nominee for President George W. Bush, has dismissed a lawsuit for manipulating Biden’s votes, saying ‘they want this court to replace his ruling the verdict of two and a half million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden and that is what I am not prepared to do. ”
U.S. District Judge Stephanos Bibas, a former law professor appointed by Trump, writes: “Voters, not lawyers, elect the president. Ballot papers, not briefings, decide on elections, ”because his panel did not want to grant a request to stop Pennsylvania from confirming the results.
In about 60 cases filed by Trump’s legal team and Republican allies, Trump has won just one small victory in a battle over the deadline to provide missing proof of identification for certain absentee ballots and ballots in Pennsylvania.
As his legal bid failed, Trump sought to enlist the help of elected officials in key states. He summoned Michigan lawmakers to the White House in an unsuccessful attempt to set aside the votes. He asked the governor of Georgia to convene the state legislature to block the results, and told the highest-ranking election official in Georgia to ‘find Enough votes to move the state in its favor.
Amid all the allegations, it was noteworthy that it started and ended with the presidential contest. There were no widespread calls to redo the entire election, which also included congressional and state legislative seats.
AFTER MOB CONFIRM CONGRESS
The steady stream of false allegations of widespread fraud reached the Capitol as Congress convened to confirm Biden’s victory, with more than 100 GOP legislators supporting objections.
The meeting to complete the election college is usually a routine step. But the process became deadly like a mob thousands of Trump supporters stormed the building. After the assistance, legislators met again and confirmed the outcome before dawn the next day.
In a strong rebuke, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate said ‘the crowd was lied to “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 process of 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 made a contribution from Boston.
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The Associated Press’ coverage of voting rights is supported in part by Carnegie Corporation in New York. The AP is solely responsible for this content.