Screenshot/CNN
Brianna Keilar and John Merrill.
- Alabama's Republican secretary of state shredded claims of voter fraud in the state's special Senate election in a Thursday CNN interview.
- Republican Roy Moore, who lost, is claiming that voter fraud played a massive role in his opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, pulling off an upset victory.
Alabama's Republican Secretary of State John Merrill tried to make it as clear as possible that widespread voter fraud did not occur in Alabama's special Senate election that saw Democrat Doug Jones pull off a shocking upset over embattled Republican Roy Moore.
During an interview with CNN, Merrill, who voted for Moore, outlined some of the voter fraud claims his office has had to deal with in the weeks that followed Jones's surprise victory and Moore's refusal to concede the race.
Merrill's office received roughly 120 complaints of voter fraud, mostly from sources outside Alabama, and roughly 70% had already been investigated and adjudicated. Janet Porter, a Moore spokeswoman, said earlier on CNN that the chances of voter fraud not having an effect on the election were astronomically low.
"People are entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts," Merrill said, then detailing some of the voter fraud claims.
He mentioned some of the claims, including one that five busloads of black voters from Mississippi came into the state to vote, which he said was proven false after an investigation. He also noted a claim that three van loads of Mexicans from Mexico came into the state to cast ballots and were identified and incarcerated, which he also said was completely untrue. A third involved a claim that 5,000 people had voted in the 2,200 person town of "Bordalama," which he said was impossible because the town does not exist.
"So that was completely fabricated and made up," he said.
Moore, whose campaign filed a last-minute "election fraud" complaint on Thursday just before the results were certified just after 2 p.m. EST, claimed that widespread voter fraud had contributed to his more than 20,000 vote loss to Jones, a number that was not significantly altered by the inclusion of military and provisional ballots that were later counted.
Merrill said earlier in the day on CNN that the challenge would not affect anything, and even President Donald Trump, who had supported Moore through allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, had earlier called on him to concede the race.
Jones will now be sworn in early next month, having been the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama since 1992.