Trump supporters, local officials question election results even in some rural counties Trump won

"With denial of President Joe Biden's victory at the core of the pro-Trump movement, demands for partisan election investigations styled after the one authorized by Republicans in Arizona — focused in a county Biden won — have proliferated. Now, a push to revisit November's results is underway or being called for in at least nine counties Trump won by more than 24 points," Allan Smith reports for NBC News. That includes largely rural places like Lander County, Nevada, and Barry County, Michigan (Barry is home to two of the men arrested in a plot to kidnap Gov. Christine Whitmer).

"The county efforts are happening on a parallel track to partisan reviews launched by or in conjunction with state legislatures in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, reviews that largely stray from typical vote-auditing procedure and have sometimes involved private firms with little relevant experience or expertise," Smith reports. "Partially for those reasons, these reviews in solidly red counties have not been immune to skepticism from fellow local GOP officials — including those who run elections."

Though ballots from the presidential election have been recounted and acknowledged accurate by Republican leaders, including former Trump administration officials, Trump supporters have pressured county officials to undertake such investigations, Smith reports.

"The trend is symptomatic of the increasingly entrenched idea among the Trump base that elections are rigged and not to be trusted — a lie Trump continues to vigorously promote and which has become a litmus test for GOP officials at all levels of government. A recent CNN poll found that nearly six in 10 Republicans say believing this false claim is important to their partisan identity."

The growth of such identification and belief "demonstrates that the Big Lie is getting bigger," Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, told NBC. "The threat to democracy is increasing."