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COLUMBIA A pair of far-right Republicans are challenging the results of South Carolina's June 14 primary in statewide races where they both lost by six-figure margins.

Lauren Martel who lost to incumbent Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson by nearly 109,000 votes filed a complaint with the S.C. Election Commission demanding its members refuse to certify the results citing vulnerabilities with the state's elections systems she believes could have impacted the final result.

Martel was joined by Harrison "Trucker Bob" Musselwhite, a populist conservative candidate for governor who lost his primary to incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster by more than 244,000 votes.

He filed an identical complaint with the S.C. Republican Party also on June 15.

The allegations include claims the states voter rolls were not up to date and that they included individuals registered to vote at commercial addresses.

Other charges are that poll watchers were harassed at several voting locations and that voting machines were connected to the internet, leaving them vulnerable to tampering.

Both letters include a claim the candidates personally knew a voter who had moved to Tennessee two years prior but was still included on South Carolina's voter lists.

"The races were overrun with multiple complaints and problems from many polling places, and filed by candidates all across the state," Martel wrote in her letter.

Martel, who could not be reached for comment, did not provide evidence to support the claims in her letter.

For the candidates to be successful they would have to make the case to the state GOP and the election commission the alleged discrepancies were great enough to impact the final result.

Some of the claims Martel presented don't mesh with standard election procedure, while others were challenged as wrong by the state party.

As for the voting machines being connected to the internet, the state says the check-in systems used by poll workers are connected to the internet but that individual machines are not, shielding them from the outside.

And while there were reports of incorrect ballots distributed in some districts, as well as difficulties in results being reported in Beaufort County, none appeared serious enough to have a tangible impact on the final result or undermine the legitimacy of the election, officials have said.

We didn't hear of any issues across the state, said Claire Brady, a spokeswoman for the state GOP. It was a very smooth election.

The candidates' claims underscore the mistrust among some conservatives in election systems nationwide following widely debunked claims by then-President Donald Trump and his supporters that the 2020 presidential election was systematically rigged against him.

In the wake of 2020, conservative activists pushed for state officials to conduct an audit of South Carolinas elections, while the General Assembly responded with sweeping reforms to the states elections systems this year.

The state GOP said this week's primary was fair and square.

South Carolina handled the elections the right way in 2020," Brady said. "We handled them the right way in the municipal elections in 2021. And they were handled the right way in 2022. And we stand by that. We believe it wholeheartedly.

Contact Nick Reynolds at 843-834-4267. Follow him on Twitter @IAmNickReynolds.

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2 Republicans from the far right challenge results of SC primaries they lost handily - Charleston Post Courier