(Reuters) -The Trump administration and its allies are trying to obtain voter data from states and inspect voting equipment, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, in moves it said had caused concern among state and local election officials.
The Post said “the most unusual activity” was taking place in Colorado, where it said a consultant who was working with the White House had asked county clerks whether they would let federal officials or a third party examine voting machines.
“That’s a hard stop for me,” it quoted Carly Koppes, a Republican clerk in Colorado’s Weld County, as saying. “Nobody gets access to my voting equipment, for security reasons.”
The newspaper said the Justice Department had separately asked at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls, and that at least two have turned them over.
Reuters could not immediately confirm details of the Washington Post report. The White House and the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Elections in the United States, including for federal offices, are administered by state and local officials.
President Donald Trump has long raised doubts about the electoral system and continues to falsely assert that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was due to electoral fraud.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump stood his ground on voter fraud claims and called for action against the “stolen election of 2020”.
(Reporting by Angela Christy in BengaluruEditing by Andrew Heavens and Peter Graff)
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