Jan 5 (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's newly elected Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro has named a Republican who resisted former President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud to oversee the battleground state’s elections.
Schmidt also rejected Trump's claims that thousands of dead people were counted as Democratic votes in the election, calling the allegations "fantastical" and "ridiculous."
President Joe Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania, and the state became a central front for Trump’s bogus fraud assertions.
Pennsylvania law allows the governor to choose the state's elections chief.
That made last November’s election, in which Shapiro defeated Republican Doug Mastriano who backed Trump's election lies, particularly consequential in the wake of efforts by Trump and his supporters to undermine the 2020 results.