SC’s US House Republicans support Trump’s choice not to concede, back legal challenges
South Carolina’s U.S. House Republicans called for more transparency Tuesday into America’s elections system and continued to push support for President Donald Trump’s legal challenges to ballots cast in battleground states that show the president losing to President-elect Joe Biden.
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, of Springdale, said he is “concerned and disgusted with the election irregularities and improprieties” that he suggested have occurred across the country. He said South Carolinians should be grateful for the state’s smooth election process.
And Nancy Mace, a state representative who defeated U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham in the 1st District this month, said ending the “irregularities” is not a partisan issue and the “American system of voting is only as good as the public’s confidence in it.”
A week since Election Day, S.C. House Republicans laid out resolutions they said would give Americans more confidence in elections. They include a photo identification requirement to vote — a policy critics argue disenfranchises minorities, the elderly and people with disabilities — and a process to ensure people who are deceased or who have moved out of state are eliminated from their state’s voter roles.
“I respect the proper constitutional role states (have) conducting elections,” Wilson said. “But with the federal election on the ballot, federal officials have a duty to uphold fair and free elections.”
In a handful of key states, states where Biden is leading, poll workers are still counting ballots after a surge this year in mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The president has called, and lawsuits have followed, for states to stop counting ballots after Election Day, a process that critics say would hurt people who mailed in ballots, including members of the military.
Wilson, who noted he’s a veteran, rejected the latter theory, saying Democrats are “making it up” because members of the military have plenty of time to get their ballots in, he said.
But should legal options be exhausted and all votes verified, Republicans said they would accept the results that Biden won.
“Oh absolutely,” said U.S. Rep Ralph Norman, of Rock Hill. “I do not hate Joe Biden. I do not like his policies. But that being said, yes we will accept. ... We support an honest process. This process last Tuesday, it needs to be borne out, whether it’s honest or dishonest.”
U.S. Reps. Tom Rice, of Myrtle Beach, and Jeff Duncan, of Laurens, were also there. U.S. Rep. William Timmons, of Greenville, was not present because he is on his honeymoon.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 4:50 PM.
