AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File
- Last week, Trump claimed the California recall election would be rigged.
- Challenger Larry Elder called on his supporters to report incidents of fraud, Politico reported.
- Gov. Newsom slammed the effort as trying to sow doubt on the election.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed recall challenger Larry Elder for sowing mistrust about California's recall election when Elder called on his supporters to report election fraud ahead of September 14, Politico reported.
On his campaign site, Elder added a "report election incident" link that leads to StopCAFraud.com, an anonymously registered website apparently created on August 27th that allows people to submit tips about ballot fraud.
"It's just an extension of the Big Lie and 'Stop the Steal,'" Newsom told reporters while voting with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom at the California State Archives in Sacramento on Friday. "We're four days out, the election hasn't even happened, and now they're all claiming election fraud. I think it's important to highlight that."
The Sacramento Bee reported that Elder also threatened a lawsuit to challenge the election results. The election is set for Tuesday.
"We have a voter integrity board all set up – most of these are lawyers," Elder said Wednesday, according to CNN. "So, when people hear things, they contact us. We're going to file lawsuits in a timely fashion."
Newsom told The Bee that "there is a thread within the Republican Party that, if they don't get what they want, they are willing to assault the core tenets of an election in ways that have far-reaching consequences. It's very, very damaging and baseless, absolutely baseless."
Politico previously reported that former President Donald Trump has said the election is "probably rigged," without any evidence.
"The ballots... are mail-in ballots... I guess you even have a case where you can make your own ballot. When that happens, nobody's gonna win except these Democrats. The one thing they are good at is rigging elections, so I predict it's a rigged election," Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump and his allies waged dozens of lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 Presidential election, all of which failed.
California Assemblymember Chad Mayes told Politico he's already been getting "texts saying 'don't let them steal it.'"
"It's this constant messaging that somehow if Republicans lose elections, it's because of voter fraud. It is wrong, it is dangerous, and it needs to stop," Mayes told Politico.
On Friday, Newsom said he would accept the election outcome.