Ted Cruz supports Trump's baseless election conspiracy on voter fraud

Texan senator claims Pennsylvania vote-counting that appears to be going against president ‘is partisan, it is political, it is lawless’

Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham did not dismiss suggestions from Fox New host Sean Hannity that state legislatures could appoint their own electors to re-elect Donald Trump following baseless claims of voter fraud and a narrow lead against Democratic candidate Joe Biden in Pennsylvania.

Senator Graham said that “everything should be on the table," while Senator Cruz of Texas said that the processing of ballots in Pennsylvania – where the state legislature prevented election officials from processing mail-in ballots before Election Day, as an expected surge in absentee ballots would almost certainly delay reporting the results – “is partisan, it is political, it is lawless."

The senator also suggested that the Justice Department and US Supreme Court could get involved.

The former vice president is projected to receive 253 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, and Pennsylvania and its 20-electoral-vote prize could award him the presidency, with a necessary 270 votes.

Senator Cruz also supported the president’s false claim that election observers in Philadelphia have been denied access to observe the ballot counting.

Read more: When will we know the 2020 US election result?

Republicans in Pennsylvania sued to allow partisan poll watchers to observe ballot-counting efforts in Philadelphia within six feet. They previously had been allowed to observe the process from a 20-foot perimeter, though a lower court ruling granted poll watchers to be within arm’s length of election workers – which city officials argued violated physical distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic and could lead to intimidation and tampering.

Hours later, Philadelphia police had reportedly prevented an attack against a convention centre where election workers are tabulating votes.

Senator Cruz said that Democrats are “clouding the vote counting in a shroud of darkness” and leading efforts to “steal the election not just from the president" but the millions of people who voted for him.

More than 73 million people have voted for the former vice president, as of midnight on Thursday, roughly four million more votes than the president had received, while the candidates compete for electoral votes in a handful of states where ballots are still being processed.

Read more: Follow the 2020 US election results live

Moments before their appearance on Hannity’s show, the president delivered remarks at the White House, making his first appearance in two days, to issue a 17-minute screed amplifying conspiracies and attempts to undermine the integrity of the election, continuing his attacks against vote-by-mail efforts that have shown to favour Democratic voters.