N.H. lawmaker running for Congress calls for 2020 election audit

A Republican lawmaker and congressional candidate wants New Hampshire to conduct an audit of the 2020 presidential election results to check for voter fraud.

State Rep. Tim Baxter, a first-term lawmaker from Seabrook, says he plans to file a bill for consideration in the next legislative session calling for a forensic audit of New Hampshire's 2020 election results.

"This is a pivotal moment for transparency and the future of the American political process," Baxter posted on social media. "Only with a full forensic audit can we restore faith in our election process."

Baxter has set up an online petition gathering signatures in support of his effort.

The conservative lawmaker is among five Republican candidates running for the U.S. House seat held by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.

He has criticized Pappas as a "radical Democrat" and chided him in campaign materials for not supporting an audit of the presidential election.

It's not clear whether the state's Republican-controlled Legislature will entertain Baxter's proposal, which couldn't be taken up until the next session that gets underway in January.

In the 2020 general election, Democrat Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump by 59,277 votes out of more than 803,000 votes cast in the Granite State, according to the results certified by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and other state officials.

There were no reports of widespread voter fraud.

The Trump campaign, which challenged the results in several other battleground states through the courts, didn't file a similar challenge over New Hampshire's results.