Election fraud claims have no justification

EDITOR, TIMES-DISPATCH:

Carlton Marshall, in a recent Letter to the Editor, says 74 million voting Americans “want to know that this was an honest and accurate election.”

Please consider: President Donald Trump’s loyalist and former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, on his way out the door, said there is no evidence of fraud that could have overturned Joe Biden’s election as president. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called the 2020 election “the safest choice ever,” one with “no evidence that votes have disappeared.” States with votes disputed by the Trump campaign have counted and recounted ballots, sometimes by hand. Dozens of federal judges up to a U.S. Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority have debunked and dismissed every allegation of significant fraud. Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, after enduring an hour-long presidential harangue alleging a 400,000-vote win in a state Trump lost, replied calmly and truthfully: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.” His office has provided a point-bypoint rebuttal to every Trump claim.

Given all this, what exactly would convince the doubters on election integrity? Dare I suggest, nothing, not so long as “Dear Leader” continues to spout the lie that he won by millions of votes an election he lost by millions of votes. Certainly, as U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, RTexas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., cynically know, not an “emergency 10-day audit” that could do nothing more than retread ground already trod.

Respectfully, those who have proven themselves willing to destroy democracy in the alleged interests of preserving democracy need a new strategy and a deeper regard for welldocumented truth.

MARGARET EDDS.

RICHMOND.