On Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that pro-Trump activists have allowed election fraud conspiracy theories to seep into the fight to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) — and it could turn off voters from supporting the effort.
"In an illustration of the fallout from Donald Trump's 'Stop the Steal' lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, California recall supporters have unleashed streams of unfounded allegations on Facebook and other online forums, suggesting the state will continue in mass voter fraud to keep Newsom in power," reported Kaylee Fagan. "'We all know 2020s [sic] election was stolen from President Trump,' a woman wrote last month in a private Facebook group run by the pro-recall campaign to rally support in Orange County. 'If we can't guarantee election integrity, the Dems will cheat again.'"
Trump's "big lie" about the 2020 election has seeped into GOP politics all over the country, forming the basis of Arizona's controversial partisan "audit" of ballots in Maricopa County with the help of a pro-Trump cybersecurity firm in Florida known as Cyber Ninjas.
"The intensity of these assertions — which have been amplified by the Republican front-runner in the election, radio host Larry Elder — has prompted both recall supporters and voting experts to worry they could diminish trust in the election and even discourage some people from voting altogether," said the report. "Many recall supporters appear to be aware of the danger, pushing back in online forums, though not necessarily correcting false assertions."
In California, Elder acknowledged that Biden won the election "fair and square," which prompted Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis to attack him and urge Republicans to back another candidate.
Over 1 million ballots have already been returned in the recall election so far, which asks voters both whether they support the recall and, regardless of their answer, which of several candidates they support as a replacement for Newsom.
