Utah's Republican Governor-Elect Says 'No Evidence of Mass Voter Fraud'
Utah Governor-elect Spencer Cox has dismissed claims that voter fraud took place during the 2020 election and urged a peaceful transition of power to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Cox, who is currently the red state's lieutenant governor, has congratulated Biden on his win and told CNN this week people shouldn't believe allegations of fraud without evidence.
"I do think we need to move forward—none of this changes the outcome of the actual election," Cox said.
"There was no evidence of mass voter fraud," he added.
President Donald Trump's campaign has repeatedly made unfounded accusations of voter fraud and has brought lawsuits in several states challenging election results.
"What we shouldn't be doing is accepting, as fact, baseless allegations. If there is evidence, let's review the evidence, let's put the evidence in front of arbitrators of truth, the judges," Cox said.
"Let's make those decisions and move on. But we can't accept that as the gospel until there has been a factual basis."
GOP Utah Gov.-elect Spencer Cox, who has acknowledged Joe Biden’s election victory, discusses why many Republicans are refusing to do the same.
— CNN (@CNN) November 12, 2020
“Unfortunately, too many politicians are scared that if they say something nice about someone else, that they’ll lose their position.” pic.twitter.com/3HyeNXk2Le
"In Utah, we really do believe in civility," Cox said. "And we believe in finding ways to work together."
"Unfortunately, too many politicians are scared that if they say something nice about someone else, that they'll lose their position," he said.
He urged the Trump administration to co-operate in the transition to a Biden presidency, saying he disagreed with the decision not to provide office space and funding to the Democrat's transition team.
"By starting that process, that doesn't change the election," Cox said. "It just makes sure that whoever the next president is they are prepared from day one to govern and that's good for all of us."
"This shouldn't be controversial, the idea of helping both candidates getting access to this material that they need," he said.
Writing on Twitter on Thursday, Cox expressed more concern about unproven allegations of voter fraud and called on people to reject claims advanced without evidence.
"I am deeply troubled at the general acceptance of unproven allegations that undermine our electoral system. It's happening today w my party and it happened in 2016 when 67% of Dems believed that Russia tampered w[ith] vote tallies to elect Trump. It was wrong then and it's wrong now," he said, sharing an image of an Economist/YouGov poll.
"If you spoke out against false accusations then, please do so now. And if you are speaking out now, I really hope you did so then. Sometimes our team just loses. It doesn't mean the other side cheated, it just means we have to work harder next time to convince more voters."
