As he faces scrutiny for a conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the 2020 election, Sen. Lindsey Graham acknowledged that he has spoken to officials in two other battleground states.
The South Carolina Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that he also talked to top officials in Arizona and Nevada, two states in addition to Georgia that President Trump’s team has contested the vote count, about election integrity.
“I spoke with the governor of Arizona, and I’ve spoken to people in Nevada. I can’t remember who. Bottom line is, I’m trying to figure out how you validate signatures on mail-in voting,” Graham said.
This was after Graham told reporters earlier in the day that he spoke with the secretaries of state in Arizona and Nevada, which was followed by a tweet from Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs denying that they had a discussion.
Graham is embroiled in controversy after Raffensperger claimed the senator pressured him to question the validity of legally cast ballots. Graham denied the assertion, calling that characterization of their conversation “ridiculous.”
Most media outlets have called the presidential race for Joe Biden, but two weeks after Election Day, Trump is still refusing to concede as he and his allies await legal challenges in battleground states and recounts to play out. They have said the election was “rigged,” making a variety of allegations about voter fraud and voting machine irregularities, although state officials and Trump’s election security agency have asserted the election was secure.
There is a growing list of Senate Republicans who have acknowledged Biden as president-elect, putting pressure on Trump to do the same so the General Service Administration can unlock transition resources for the Democrat, but Graham is not one of them.
“In Nevada, they use machines. And the allegations are that the machine was set up, its sensitivity level, that everything went through. In Arizona, they had people trained in forensics that look at the ballot, and if there’s a dispute, they can eventually call up the voter,” Graham said on Tuesday. “In Georgia, with expanded mail-in balloting, it is my understanding that if you request a ballot by mail, not on the internet, that a single individual validates the signature in an election office.”
Graham said that his main question is: “How do you validate signatures?”
In addition to the presidential contest, Georgia is being closely watched for how its two Senate races play out, with both heading to runoffs in January and the balance of power in the upper chamber at stake.
So far, Republicans will have a hold on 50 seats for the next term, while the Democrats have 46, along with two independents who caucus with them. Should Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeat incumbent GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the Senate will be split 50-50, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would act as a tiebreaker.
