An email sent on behalf of former President Donald Trump has said that mail-in ballots are not to be trusted, only hours after it was confirmed that Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom had defeated a Republican-led attempt to recall him.
An email by Trump's "Save America" fundraising committee to supporters reiterated unfounded claims about uncounted ballots in the 2020 presidential election, made a plea for "transparency" at the ballot box, and called for financial donations.
"This is a very sad day for the more than 75 million Americans who voted for me, and the 15 million Americans whose ballots were not counted," the email read.
Using six periods for emphasis, Trump added: "We. Cannot. Trust. Mail. In. Ballots."
While no mention was made of the California recall election, the timing of the message is significant, with many viewing the vote as a bellwether for the 2022 midterm elections.
It is likely that Newsom, in part, owed his landslide victory to postal votes.
Pandemic voting rules allowed ballots to be mailed to the state's 22 million registered voters, with prepaid postage, in a state where Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans.
Of the 22.2 million ballots sent to registered voters in the state, more than 9.6 million of them, or 44 percent, were posted according to Political Data Intelligence.
In Los Angeles County, preliminary results showed that over three-quarters (76 percent) of mail-in ballots rejected Newsom's recall, with postal votes representing around one-third of eligible voters in the county, Deadline reported.
The governor's main rival, conservative radio host Larry Elder, had claimed that the vote was rigged before polls even opened.
Following his crushing defeat, Elder removed a page about voter fraud from his campaign website.
Trump's message continued: "I'm calling on you to step up and fight alongside me and demand honest elections."
It added: "I need to know I can trust you right now, friend. Are you with me?" before offering ways for supporters to make financial contribute.
Newsweek has contacted the Save America group for comment.
Newsom acknowledged the spectre of Trump who had made pre-emptive allegations that the recall election would be marred by fraud, in a reprise of his false claims about the 2020 presidential ballot.
"We may have defeated Trump, but Trumpism is not dead in this country," Newsom said after his victory as he took aim at "the big lie, the January 6 insurrection," as well as "voting suppression efforts that are happening all across this country."
