A conservative activist and Republican party official from Laurens county, South Carolina is requesting a “full forensic audit” of last year’s election results, according to a letter obtained by this news outlet. The letter – dated July 9, 2021 – specifically asks the S.C. Election Commission (SCVotes.org) to conduct an audit of “the November 2020 election and the June 2020 primary election for every county in South Carolina.”
“Given the concerns of voter fraud across the country with the ES&S voting machines, I believe that duplicating an audit like the one currently being performed in Arizona is necessary across all states, including South Carolina,” wrote Cole Kazmarski of Waterloo, S.C. in a letter addressed to election commission executive director Marci Andino.
“This is a bipartisan concern,” Kazmarski continued. “As Americans we need to know that the integrity of our vote is safeguarded and we have free and fair elections. It is our right under the state constitution to receive an audit and have full transparency in our elections, (and) a full forensic audit is the only way to accomplish this.”
Kazmarski acknowledged that many would question the efficacy of conducting a general election audit in the Palmetto State – which former U.S. president Donald Trump won with 55.1 percent of the vote compared to 43.4 percent for president Joe Biden.
However, she noted that it was her contention Trump won South Carolina “by a much wider margin” than the official outcome would suggest.
“I also think the down ballot elections need to be audited,” Kazmarski added in her letter.
“We the people of South Carolina have legitimate concerns about these voting machines we are forced to use in every county, and we know that there is supposed to be a paper trail; we demand that paper trail be audited,” Kazmarski concluded. “The government works for we the people, not the other way around. We want to know that our votes matter and it is on the state to prove that to us if we petition them, which I am officially doing right now.”
A copy of the letter was sent to the office of S.C. governor Henry McMaster and S.C. secretary of state Mark Hammond.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: Cole Kazmarski)
It is not immediately clear what sort of process is involved in handling an electoral audit request – let alone conducting an actual audit (assuming a request for one is granted). In fact, one election official I spoke with earlier this week told me there was no process – because such a request is unprecedented.
“There isn’t a process,” the official said. “There is no defined method since no one has ever asked for (an audit).”
I reached out to Andino for comment on the letter late Wednesday, but did not immediately receive a reply. I will be sure to let my readers know what her agency has to say in response to the letter.
In the meantime, while I support this audit request – believing it would put to bed any number of rumors about the 2020 election – I have seen nothing to suggest there was fraud (widespread or otherwise) in either the primary or general elections in the Palmetto State last year.
Still, I believe states should do everything within their power not only to document the validity of their previous elections … but to make sure fraud is not allowed to take place in future elections.
After all, ensuring the integrity of the vote is elemental to our representative democracy … and erecting identity safeguards on the front end (and creating/ preserving paper trails on the back end) seems the least we can do to protect the sanctity of this most fundamental right.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children. And yes, he has LOTS of hats (including that lime green Daytona Tortugas’ batting practice lid pictured above).
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