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PHILADELPHIA — Electionofficials in dozens of states repre-senting both political parties saidthat there was no evidence thatfraud or other irregularitiesplayed a role in the outcome of thepresidential race, amounting to aforceful rebuke of PresidentTrump’s portrait of a fraudulentelection.

Over the last several days, thepresident, members of his admin-istration, congressional Republi-cans and right wing allies haveput forth the false claim that theelection was stolen from Mr.Trump and have refused to acceptresults that showed Joseph R. Bi-den Jr. as the winner.

But top election officials acrossthe country said in interviews andstatements that the process hadbeen a remarkable success de-spite record turnout and the com-plications of a dangerous pan-demic.

“There’s a great human capaci-ty for inventing things that aren’ttrue about elections,” said FrankLaRose, a Republican who servesas Ohio’s secretary of state. “Theconspiracy theories and rumorsand all those things run rampant.For some reason, elections breedthat type of mythology.”

Steve Simon, a Democrat who isMinnesota’s secretary of state,

said: “I don’t know of a single casewhere someone argued that a votecounted when it shouldn’t have ordidn’t count when it should. Therewas no fraud.”

“Kansas did not experience anywidespread, systematic issueswith voter fraud, intimidation, ir-regularities or voting problems,” aspokeswoman for Scott Schwab,the Republican secretary of statein Kansas, said in an email Tues-day. “We are very pleased withhow the election has gone up tothis point.”

The New York Times contactedthe offices of the top election offi-cials in every state on Mondayand Tuesday to ask whether theysuspected or had evidence of ille-gal voting. Officials in 45 states re-sponded directly to The Times.For four of the remaining states,The Times spoke to other state-wide officials or found public com-ments from secretaries of state;none reported any major votingissues.

Statewide officials in Texas didnot respond to repeated inquiries.But a spokeswoman for the topelections official in Harris County,the largest county in Texas with apopulation greater than manystates, said that there were only afew minor issues and that “we hada very seamless election.” OnTuesday, the Republican lieuten-

ELECTION OFFICIALS NATIONWIDE FIND NO FRAUDMembers of Both Parties Praise Process —

Rejection of the President’s Narrative

This article is by Nick Corasaniti,Reid J. Epstein and Jim Rutenberg.

Fighting a False ClaimThe president and his allies have baselessly claimed that rampant voter fraud stole victory from him. State officials say there were no irregularities that affected the outcome.

‘Kansas did not experience any widespread, systematic issues with voter fraud, intimidation, irregularities or voting problems.’The office of Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican

‘It’s just throwing grass at the fence at this point.See what sticks.’The office of Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican

‘We have not seen any evidence of fraud or foul play in the actual administration of the election. What we have seen is that it was smooth, transparent, secure and accurate.’The office of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat

‘I don’t know of a single case where someone argued that a vote counted when it shouldn’t have or didn’t count when it should. There was no fraud.’Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat

‘There’s a great human capacity for inventing things that aren’t true about elections. The conspiracy theories and rumors and all those things run rampant.’Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican

‘Many of the claims against the commonwealth have already been dismissed, and repeating these false attacks is reckless. No active lawsuit even alleges, and no evidence presented so far has shown, widespread problems.’The office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat

Results as of Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. Eastern. THE NEW YORK TIMES

KANSASTRUMP +15

MICHIGANBIDEN +3

MINNESOTABIDEN +7

OHIOTRUMP +8

PENNSYLVANIABIDEN +0.67

WASHINGTONBIDEN +20

Continued on Page A15

EL PASO — Coronavirus pa-tients filled beds on one floor.Then two. Then the UniversityMedical Center, a teaching hospi-tal in El Paso, set up tents to carefor patients in a parking lot. Adowntown convention center be-came a field hospital. To free upeven more space, the state beganairlifting dozens of intensive carepatients to other cities.

Local leaders clashed overwhat to do to quell the spiralingcoronavirus crisis. The top countyofficial ordered a lockdown andcurfew. But the mayor disagreed,and the police said they would not

enforce it. Then the state attorneygeneral weighed in — a lockdownwas unnecessary and illegal, hesaid.

And the patients kept coming.“We discharge one patient, and

there are two that come in,” saidWanda Helgesen, executive direc-tor of the local council on emer-gency and disaster preparedness.

El Paso, a border city of 680,000,now has more people hospitalizedwith Covid-19 than most states —

1,076 as of Tuesday — and is morethan doubling its supply of mobilemorgues, to 10 from four.

The strain on the city, as it grap-ples with the pandemic’s deadlythird wave, is mirrored across thecountry. The number of Covid-19hospitalizations in the UnitedStates hit a record high of 61,964on Tuesday, surpassing the hor-rific early days of the spring inNew York and the summer in theSouth and West.

Hospitalizations have morethan doubled since September, ac-cording to the Covid TrackingProject, passing the previouspeak of 59,940 patients hospital-ized in mid-April. But while the

El Paso Buckles Under Strain as Infections SoarBy J. DAVID GOODMAN

In El Paso, medical centers are overrun by Covid-19 patients and have had to use field hospitals.JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. Hits Record Highfor Hospitalizations

Continued on Page A6

When President-elect Joseph R.Biden Jr. thanked Black voters inhis victory speech on Saturdaynight for rescuing his campaignwhen it was at its lowest point anddeclared “you’ve always had myback, and I’ll have yours,” Kourt-ney Neloms did not cheer like thehundreds in attendance.

Instead, listening to Mr. Bidenspeak in Wilmington, Del., fromher hometown, Detroit, she feltsomewhat skeptical.

“OK, let’s see if he’s really beinghonest about this,” Ms. Neloms,42, who is Black, recalled thinking.“My prayer is that it’s not just lipservice.”

While Black voters across thecountry celebrated the election ofMr. Biden and his vice president,Senator Kamala Harris of Califor-nia, many said in recent days thatthe administration would have toprove its sincerity when it came toaddressing the country’s vast in-equalities and systemic barriers.

“I am hopeful and willing to giveBiden a chance but am not com-pletely sold,” said Geary Woolfolk,53, who is Black and lives in sub-urban Atlanta.

In this year’s election, Mr. Bidenattracted about 87 percent of theBlack vote. At the same time, Mr.

Black Voters Went for Biden.Now They Hope He’ll Deliver.

By JOHN ELIGON and AUDRA D. S. BURCH

Continued on Page A17

VATICAN CITY — A highly an-ticipated Vatican report found onTuesday that Pope John Paul IIhad rejected explicit warningsabout sexual abuse by TheodoreE. McCarrick, now a disgracedformer cardinal, choosing to be-lieve the American prelate’s deni-als and misleading accounts bybishops as he elevated him to thehighest ranks of the church hier-archy.

As Washington’s archbishop,Mr. McCarrick was one of themost powerful leaders of the Ro-man Catholic Church in the UnitedStates, a media darling and prodi-gious fund-raiser with deep con-nections in the Vatican. But he be-came the highest-ranking Ameri-can official to be removed for sex-ual abuse when the pope kickedhim out of the priesthood in 2019.

Given Mr. McCarrick’s long ca-reer — as a priest in New York,archbishop of Newark and aWashington cardinal with a na-tional and international profile —the 449-page report had the poten-tial to engulf three separate papa-cies in scandal. Since the abusecarried out by Mr. McCarrick be-

Vatican InquirySays John PaulKnew of Abuse

By JASON HOROWITZ

Continued on Page A10

WASHINGTON — At least fiveSupreme Court justices, includingtwo members of its conservativemajority, indicated on Tuesdaythat they would reject attempts byRepublicans and the Trump ad-ministration to kill the AffordableCare Act.

It was not clear whether thecourt would strike down a provi-sion of the act that initially re-quired most Americans to obtaininsurance or pay a penalty, a re-quirement that was renderedtoothless in 2017 after Congresszeroed out the penalty. But thebulk of the sprawling 2010 healthcare law, President Barack Oba-ma’s defining domestic legacy, ap-peared likely to survive its latestencounter with the court.

Chief Justice John G. RobertsJr. and Justice Brett M. Kava-naugh said striking down the so-called individual mandate did notrequire the rest of the law to bestruck down as well.

“Congress left the rest of thelaw intact when it lowered thepenalty to zero,” Chief JusticeRoberts said.

Justice Kavanaugh made a sim-ilar point. “It does seem fairlyclear that the proper remedywould be to sever the mandateprovision and leave the rest of theact in place — the provisions re-garding pre-existing conditionsand the rest,” he said.

The court’s three-member lib-eral wing — Justices Stephen G.Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor andElena Kagan — also indicatedtheir support for the law. That sug-gested there were at least fivevotes to uphold almost all of it.

Three members of the court’sconservative majority, JusticesClarence Thomas, Samuel A. AlitoJr. and Neil M. Gorsuch, seemedpoised to vote to strike down thelaw. The court’s newest member,Justice Amy Coney Barrett, washarder to read, though she hasbeen publicly critical of earlier rul-

Justices SignalLikely ReprieveFor Health Act

Two Conservatives SideWith Liberal Faction

By ADAM LIPTAK

Continued on Page A16

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump, facing the prospect ofleaving the White House in defeatin just 70 days, is harnessing thepower of the federal governmentto resist the results of an electionthat he lost, something that no sit-ting president has done in Ameri-can history.

In the latest sign of defiance, thepresident’s senior cabinet secre-tary fueled concerns on Tuesdaythat Mr. Trump would resist hand-ing over power to President-electJoseph R. Biden Jr. after legalchallenges to the vote. “There willbe a smooth transition to a secondTrump administration,” Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo said.

Mr. Trump’s attorney generalhas at the same time authorizedinvestigations into supposed votefraud, his general services admin-istrator has refused to give Mr. Bi-den’s team access to transition of-fices and resources guaranteedunder law and the White House ispreparing a budget for next yearas if Mr. Trump will be around topresent it.

The president has also em-barked on a shake-up of his ad-ministration, firing Defense Sec-retary Mark T. Esper as well as

the heads of three other agencieswhile installing loyalists in key po-sitions at the National SecurityAgency and the Pentagon. Alliesexpect more to come, includingthe possible dismissals of the di-rectors of the F.B.I. and the C.I.A.

But the rest of the world in-creasingly moved to accept Mr.Biden’s victory and prepared towork with him despite Mr.Trump’s refusal to acknowledgethe results. Speaking with journal-ists, Mr. Biden called the presi-dent’s actions since Election Day“an embarrassment” that will notserve him well in the long run.

Trump Marshals Federal PowerTo Overturn His Election Defeat

By PETER BAKERand LARA JAKES

Secretary of State Mike Pom-peo expects a Trump victory.

POOL PHOTO BY JACQUELYN MARTIN

Continued on Page A13

Every November, Samin Nosrat isasked if her roast chicken recipe workswith turkey. Now she knows. PAGE D1

A Buttermilk-Brined BirdRussia and Turkey emerged as powerbrokers in a dispute that Azerbaijanwon against Armenia. PAGE A9

Nagorno-Karabakh Fallout

Ben Dandridge-Lemco takes a look athow the small Spotify playlist hasgrown into such a big deal. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

The Sounds of Hyperpop Forget the idea of a “perfect” Thanks-giving, and celebrate the one that’spossible, Tejal Rao says. PAGE D1

FOOD D1-10

Avoiding Kitchen BurnoutThe Obama administration gave thetech industry a lot of leeway. But thatseems like a long time ago. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

Biden’s Back; Tech TremblesWhile New Zealand slept, hackersthrew the Bird of the Year contest intochaos with 1,500 fake votes. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A9-11

Flight of the Fraudsters

Did political surveys fail to learn fromthe errors of 2016, or did this electionreflect new problems? PAGE A14

The Polls Just Didn’t Add Up

Some Connecticut patients wereshocked by their bill for “super Covidtests” and $480 follow-up calls. PAGE A7

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8

The $1,944 Coronavirus Test

An honor for Lee Elder, the first Blackgolfer in the Masters, epitomizes theglacial changes at the club. PAGE B8

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B8-11

Augusta National and Race

Tom Heinsohn, a champion, Hall ofFamer and announcer, was 86. PAGE A23

OBITUARIES A21-23

Heart of the Celtics

Afer a certain announcement was madeSaturday, there just had to be dancingin the streets, Gia Kourlas says. PAGE C1

Doing the Biden Boogie

Thomas L. Friedman PAGE A25

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25

Movement leaders may have lost theirchampion, President Trump, but theireconomic, social and political griev-ances remain potent. PAGE A18

NATIONAL A12-20

A Telling Blow to Populism?

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,874 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2020

Today, partly cloudy, with rain start-ing in the afternoon, high 70. To-night, rain, some heavy, low 60. To-morrow, cloudy, some rain, high 62.Weather map appears on Page B11.

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