Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) seems to believe that Democrats’ insistence that all votes be counted is a sign of them trying to “steal” the election in Florida.

“They are trying to steal this election,” Graham said on Fox News’ Hannity Friday evening. “It’s not going to work.”

Graham appeared on the show to discuss the Florida elections, where Republican candidate for Senate Rick Scott is leading the Democratic candidate, Bill Nelson, by less than 15,000 votes, a difference of less than .25 percent and thus qualifying for a hand recount. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis was leading Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum by just over 36,000 votes, a difference of just 0.44 percent and qualifying for a machine recount. No winner has yet been declared in either state.


That hasn’t stopped Scott from claiming that “left-wing activists” are coming up with ballots “out of nowhere,” as the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Republican lawmakers seem to be increasingly implying that voting counts is the same as stealing an election. On Friday, President Donald Trump said that there was “theft” in the Florida elections and “electoral corruption” in the Arizona elections, two other states where votes are still being counted.

In Arizona, as of Friday night, Democratic candidate Krysten Sinema was leading her Republican opponent, Martha McSally, by more than 20,000 votes. Republican groups in Arizona filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the state’s process for counting mail-in ballots. Some county recorders were calling voters to verify signature irregularities, and Republicans argued that this was a violation of state law because such calls should have only taken place before Election Day. The lawsuit was settled Friday without a hearing. The process once again will continue, and county recorders will have until Wednesday, November 14 to resolve any issues with mail-in ballots.

In Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who would be the first Black woman governor in the country, has not conceded the race and is instead continuing to push for every vote to be counted. The Republican candidate in the race, Brian Kemp, also oversaw voter registration due to his role as Secretary of State, which he refused to step down from until after the election.

Over a million Georgia voters were purged from voting rolls under his leadership. On Election Day, many voters were denied ballots or forced to wait in line for hours. At one polling station, people were waiting more than four hours in the voting line due to broken voting machines.