Lindsey Graham said he talked to multiple secretaries of state about voter fraud. They say that's not true.


Elections officials across the country have a problem with Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) "just asking questions" shtick.
Even before President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, President Trump and his allies have been relentlessly questioning the results. While some of Trump's supporters have launched mostly-failed legal challenges to throw out votes in swing states Biden won, Graham took another approach, claiming he is innocently trying to investigate election integrity in states Biden coincidentally won.
Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) disputed Graham's methods on Monday, saying the senator asked him to "look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out." Gabriel Sterling, an aide to Raffensperger, confirmed that account to CNN on Tuesday.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In what seemed like to be another attempt to add legitimacy to his investigation, Graham said Tuesday he also talked to the secretaries of state in Arizona and Nevada — two states that Biden won, but also took a while to count their votes. But Arizona's Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) said she hadn't heard from Graham.
Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (D) said the same, though Graham said he may have talked to some other election official in the state. Kathryn Krawczyk
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly Tuttle
Feature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!
Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitions
Feature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official says
Speed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judges
Speed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policing
Speed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Speed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportation
Speed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
Trump arms National Guard in DC, threatens other cities
speed read His next targets are Chicago, New York and Baltimore
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfully
Speed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records request
Speed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material