Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:40 pm
The state of Idaho plans to bill MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, saying he should pay for costs that were incurred from three audits that were conducted after he claimed that election fraud occurred in the state.
Idaho Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that he plans to bill Lindell for the cost of the audits, an amount totaling $6,500.
“As we looked at how much exposure this particular set of data had gotten in the last several weeks, we felt it was reasonable to, at first, just look at the counties that had no electronic means,†Houck said. “Our premise was, if we could get in and out of two of those counties in a day, and in a day disprove the theory of what was being alleged there, that would be a good use of time.â€
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“While our team is always looking for possible vulnerabilities, this allegation was patently without merit from the first look,†Houck said in a statement Wednesday. “It takes hard work to build confidence in a state’s elections system, and careless accusations like this can cause tremendous harm. Doing nothing and saying nothing would have been like conceding its truth.â€
Trump won Idaho, a reliably conservative state, handily. However, Lindell had claimed that results in all 44 Idaho counties had been electronically manipulated to favor President Joe Biden. There is no evidence to support those claims.
The audit concluded, reporting a 0.1% margin of error across Bonner, Butte, and Camas counties, concluding that the election “was executed with both integrity and accuracy.â€
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
