Tampa Trump Supporters Call For Voter Fraud Investigation

Approximately three dozen Donald Trump supporters gathered along a sidewalk next to a Carrollwood strip mall on Wednesday, supporting the effort by GOP members of Congress to block the certification of the Electoral College so that there could be an investigation of alleged voter fraud in the presidential election.

The event, organized by the Hillsborough County Republican Party, took place hours before violence broke out when Trump supporters rushed the Capitol in Washington.

Jim Waurishuk, the chairman of the Hillsborough GOP, said he isn’t ready to concede that President-Elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20.

“We have to determine: was Joe Biden elected legally? What comes forth in the coming days will certainly determine that. I think right now it’s too early to say,” he told Spectrum Bay News 9.

Waurishuk strongly supports the plan by a number of congressional Republicans to block the certification of the Electoral College. Though nearly every lawsuit alleging voter fraud was rejected by state or federal judges over the past two months, some Republicans insist that some states violated the Constitution by changing election laws without going through their state legislatures.

There were changes in election law that took place in Florida this year as well, such as Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee’s decision to extend the voter registration deadline by a day after the Division of Elections website went down. 

When asked if that justified challenging Florida’s election results (in which Trump defeated Biden by more than 371,000 votes), Waurishuk said that he believed that every single county in Florida (and in the country) should conduct a hand recount and an audit of every single vote taken in the 2020 election. 

Tampa resident Mari Fernandez said she watched the hearings that some state legislatures held into alleged voter fraud that took place in several states around the country – hearings that she said she watched on YouTube or other broadcast outlets because they weren’t aired on the major cable news channels.

“The evidence is out there,” she said, criticizing judges who dismissed the Trump filed lawsuits because she says that they didn’t hold evidentiary hearings. She said the only fair legal system would be to conduct trials that are usually only held against enemy forces during wartime.

“We need military tribunals,” she said. “Where they don’t play games.”

Valrico resident Candace Nichols says the fact that nearly every lawsuit alleging voter fraud was rejected by the courts made her sad for her country.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever vote again. I’ve lost all faith and trust in my government,” she said, adding that she also felt that way about the judicial system.

Another protester said the situation with the presidential election had soured him on the U.S.’ two-party political system, and he said a “real investigation” was needed.

“I just want Americans to know that their basic right to control their own destiny is being stolen from them. It’s been going on for two decades, and we’ve gotta put our foot down and we gotta do something,” said Westchase resident Will Rose.

President Trump’s nonstop criticism of Republican election officials over the past two months had sparked concerns that it could deter GOP turnout in Tuesday night’s special elections for U.S. Senate. And after Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff proved victorious, some analysts said those concerns were well founded.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that played a lot into that,” said Dunedin resident Tim Stevenson. “They just feel like there’s no point in voting because their vote wasn’t going to count after the presidential election.”

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