HARTFORD—As the results of the presidential election continued to trickle in, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill on Friday demanded that every vote be counted in order to determine the next President of the United States. Murphy, Blumenthal, and Merrill also urged the state to allow its voters to vote by absentee in future elections without an excuse, citing the record number of absentee ballots this election across Connecticut.

On Connecticut’s smooth Election Day, Murphy said: “We can be really proud of what we did here in Connecticut. This was as difficult an election as we've ever faced. We had a record number of people voting in the middle of pandemic with one of the most heated presidential campaigns this country's ever seen, and Secretary Merrill and election officials all across the state pulled it off with aplomb.”

Murphy continued: “After this election, we need to make a major investment in election infrastructure to make sure that Secretaries of State and election officials don't have to scramble for the resources to make sure that every vote is counted.”

On Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud on Thursday, Murphy said: “Last night, Donald Trump said that these votes in Pennsylvania and Georgia were found, that they were discovered. Totally untrue. Everyone knows that's untrue. These were mail-in votes, that in some cases, elected officials were prohibited from counting until Election Day or the day after.”

Murphy continued: “’[I]t is not coincidental that last night, President Trump couldn't offer one iota of concrete evidence of mail-in voter fraud. And, of course, he only seems to care about the security of mail-in voting in the states where he's losing. He didn't talk last night about all the mail-in votes including his cast in Florida. He didn't attack the mail-in voting system in Iowa or Idaho. He seems very selective about where he cares about the security of elections today.”

Murphy also discussed how Joe Biden’s election is good for Connecticut and this country: “[H]is election will be very good for Connecticut. Joe Biden's going to focus on infrastructure and we badly need infrastructure money here in Connecticut. Joe Biden is going to support rather than try to destroy the Affordable Care Act and we have a quarter million people in this state who get their insurance through the Affordable Care Act, and he's going to put people in charge of government agencies that actually want government to work. From the folks that work in that Housing and Urban Development Office, to the people who run Social Security, to the people who are in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, we're going to have people in these positions that actually want to help us serve the people of Connecticut. That's a big change from the last four years.”

A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks can be found below:

“Thank you, Dick. Thank you Secretary of State Merrill. We can be really proud of what we did here in Connecticut. This was as difficult an election as we've ever faced. We had a record number of people voting in the middle of pandemic with one of the most heated presidential campaigns this country's ever seen, and Secretary Merrill and election officials all across the state pulled it off with aplomb.

“Certainly the federal funding helped. There would have been no way to build from scratch, a system by which you could take in 600,000 absentee ballots without that federal funding. And so Denise is right, we need to do more.

“After this election, we need to make a major investment in election infrastructure to make sure that Secretaries of State and election officials don't have to scramble for the resources to make sure that every vote is counted.

“And let me thank again, the election workers in Connecticut who did such a fantastic job. I voted in person just down the street from here and I'm in awe of the thousands of folks who stepped up and put themselves in, you know, a small bit of health risk by being on the front lines of this election on Tuesday.

“Dick covered the state of affairs well, so I won't belabor the points he made. Joe Biden is going to be the next President of the United States and I think we will know that for certain within the next several hours. He then will be faced with a very difficult task. Joe Biden is going to have to start a transition, while also fending off frivolous lawsuits from Donald Trump. He can do it but, it's going to make this transition much more difficult.

“Donald Trump was one of the most litigious individuals in the United States of America before he ever set foot in the political ring. His reputation preceded him and will continue. President Trump's going to litigate this election, I expect, down to the last day. He's not going to win. He's not going to win because he's making up a set of facts out of thin air.

“Last night, Donald Trump said that these votes in Pennsylvania and Georgia were found, that they were discovered. Totally untrue. Everyone knows that's untrue. These were mail-in votes, that in some cases, elected officials were prohibited from counting until Election Day or the day after. These votes weren't discovered. They weren't found. These were legally cast votes. It just so happens that in some states, these votes end up making it look as if the result is changing. But of course, the result isn't changing because there is no result until you've counted all the votes.

“In Arizona, Joe Biden has a lead that has been shrinking as they have been counting more votes. In Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had a lead that shrank and disappeared as they counted more votes. There is no results until all the votes have been counted.

“Second, Donald Trump made it sound as if there is some grand coordinated conspiracy of election officials in this country to rig this vote in [Vice] President [Biden’s] favor. That is simply not true.

“And it is not coincidental that last night, President Trump couldn't offer one iota of concrete evidence of mail-in voter fraud. And, of course, he only seems to care about the security of mail-in voting in the states where he's losing. He didn't talk last night about all the mail-in votes including his cast in Florida. He didn't attack the mail-in voting system in Iowa or Idaho. He seems very selective about where he cares about the security of elections today.

“So we are going to have a result by the end of the day. It will clearly be Joe Biden’s decision as to when he declares victory, but he is going to declare victory. And we will begin this process of transition.

“And his election will be very good for Connecticut. Joe Biden's going to focus on infrastructure and we badly need infrastructure money here in Connecticut. Joe Biden is going to support rather than try to destroy the Affordable Care Act and we have a quarter million people in this state who receive their insurance through the Affordable Care Act, and he's going to put people in charge of government agencies that actually want government to work. From the folks that work in that Housing and Urban Development Office, to the people who run Social Security, to the people who are in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, we're going to have people in these positions that actually want to help us serve the people of Connecticut. That's a big change from the last four years.

“So I feel really good about what happened in Connecticut. I want to thank Secretary Merrill for all the great work she did. I am prepared to attempt to double down in the federal support for Connecticut's election infrastructure, and I'm looking forward to waking up tomorrow and getting to work with Vice President and now President-Elect Joe Biden to help rebuild this country to help restore decency to our political dialogue, and to bring homes some dollars for Connecticut. I’d be happy to answer any questions.”

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