Geoff Diehl calls for forensic audit of ‘possible irregularities’ in Massachusetts 2020 election
Republican candidate for governor Geoff Diehl has challenged Gov. Charlie Baker to conduct a forensic audit to investigate “possible irregularities” during last year’s election.
“Election integrity has been on all of our minds since the November 2020 elections,” Diehl said in a statement. “It’s clear there is a need to perform a forensic audit to determine exactly what happened that day and where any possible irregularities occurred.”
Diehl also pledged to “combat the extension of mail-in voting parameters.”
The Republican governor and lawmakers from both parties have praised the benefits of mail-in voting. They recently passed a law that extends pandemic-era voting expansions through Dec. 15, which Diehl condemned.
“We all know that mail-in voting was fraught with issues in the past election,” he said.
“The Governor failed to publicly push back on this, and it shows how little respect his office has for ensuring free and fair elections for the people of Massachusetts,” Diehl said in a statement.
Lawmakers have proposed a number of voting expansion bills that would make universal mail-in voting permanent. Secretary of State William Galvin has thrown his support behind the measure he said it likely to be costly.
A statement sent to reporters and an accompanying campaign email to supporters from the former Whitman state rep contained many of the often-repeated conservative dog whistles about the 2020 election perpetuated by former President Donald Trump but steered clear of specifics.
Diehl claimed he has “uncovered several upsetting trends, even beyond the extended mail-in voting changes” listing “deceased residents having voted in the 2020 election, ballots being kept in a warehouse and not being counted” and “irregularities with our voting machines.”
Campaign spokeswoman Robyn Kenney clarified Diehl is concerned state resources were “overwhelmed” and said the campaign is aware of instances where ballots were not received or mailed to the wrong address and other “mistakes.”
“Americans have the right to expect fair elections, free from fraud, and to be confident that their votes count when they head to the ballot box,” Diehl told supporters.
The former co-chairman for the Trump 2016 Massachusetts campaign has kept the former president at arms length recently as he became the first Republican candidate to formally announce his candidacy in the upcoming governor’s race.
Diehl has said he continues to support the president. Trump, who lost the presidency to Joe Biden last November, continues to repeat unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and says he actually won the 2020 election. His baseless claims have fueled rampant conspiracy theories around the efficacy of the U.S. elections system.
In a major blow to Trump in March, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected two conspiracy-laden petitions filed by his lawyers that disputed 2020 election results in Arizona and Wisconsin.
Election officials in Massachusetts and elsewhere have found no evidence to support such claims.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ipcelm
Post a Comment