Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) claimed Friday that Republicans across the country are attempting to “suppress the vote” in various elections, calling on elections officials in Florida, Arizona and Georgia to continue counting votes in the face of GOP-led legal challenges.
In a tweet Friday morning, the senator expressed his support for vote-counting efforts in the three states where prominent elections remain undecided.
{mosads}”While Republicans across the country are trying to suppress the vote and undermine American democracy, election officials in FL, GA and AZ must do their jobs and count every vote,” Sanders wrote on Twitter Friday.
“They must not allow the president, a bully & a pathological liar, or anyone else to intimidate them,” he added.
Sanders’s comments come as elections officials continue to tally votes from Florida and Arizona’s too-close-to-call Senate races, as well as Georgia’s contentious gubernatorial race.
The Florida Senate race was nearing a hand recount on Thursday night, when Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) announced he was suing Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes. Scott, who was in a tight race for the Senate against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D), alleged that Snipes’s office withheld crucial voter information. Scott’s campaign accused Democrats of trying to “steal” the election for Nelson.
Sanders and Democrats heaped criticism on Georgia’s elections officials, including former Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R), the GOP gubernatorial nominee, after thousands of voters had their registrations thrown into question in the weeks leading up to the high-profile election. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams and progressive groups accused Kemp repeatedly of voter suppression efforts.
Kemp, as secretary of state, oversaw the state’s elections and had been urged repeatedly to recuse himself from matters having to do with his own race. He resigned late Thursday morning.
On Friday, President Trump called on Abrams to “move on” in the race that remains too close to call.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) has taken a narrow lead over Rep. Martha McSally (R) in a hotly contested race for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona. With about half a million votes left to count, Republicans are nervous that the votes left to be counted could favor Sinema.