Tag: Trump fake voter fraud crisis

Trump campaign mounts challenges in four states as narrow margins raise stakes for battles over which ballots will count

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President Trump’s reelection campaign said Wednesday that it would launch a legal blitz to try to halt vote-counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan, would seek a recount in Wisconsin and challenged the handling of ballots in Georgia, threatening to draw out the final results of the razor-thin White House contest.

The campaign’s aggressive legal posture while the presidential race remains unresolved underscored how the close margins in key states have raised the stakes for litigation over which ballots will count. It comes after Trump, who has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the election, pledged to get the courts to determine its outcome.

Democrats said they were unfazed by what they said was legal posturing by the president’s campaign. They said they were well-prepared to fend off any lawsuits or appeals.

Trump Says His Lawyers Will Seek To Throw Out Ballots

n Nevada Wednesday, Donald Trump said he hopes that states won’t be permitted to count ballots after Election Day.

“I think on Tuesday we’re gonna over-perform, and we’ll see what happens at the end of the day,” Trump said. “Hopefully, it won’t go longer that. Hopefully, the few states remaining that want to take a lot of time after Nov. 3 to count ballots — that won’t be allowed by the various courts, because as you know, we’re in courts on that.”

He added that Republicans had just seen “a big victory” in Wisconsin on the subject, referring to a Supreme Court decision that refused to reinstate a lower court’s ruling to extend Wisconsin mail-in voting deadlines. Continue reading.

At behest of Trump campaign official, Minneapolis police union calls for retired officers to act as ‘eyes and ears’ on Election Day

The Minneapolis police union wants retired officers to help serve as “eyes and ears” at polling sites in “problem” areas across the city on Election Day. 

The Minneapolis police union put out a call this week for retired officers to help serve as “eyes and ears” at polling sites in “problem” areas across the city on Election Day, at the request of an attorney for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

The request was made by William Willingham, whose e-mail signature identifies him as a senior legal adviser and director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign.

In an e-mail Wednesday morning to Minneapolis Police Federation President Lt. Bob Kroll, Willingham asked the union president about recruiting 20 to 30 former officers to serve as “poll challengers” to work either a four- or eight-hour shift in a “problem area.” Continue reading.

Justice Dept., FBI planning for the possibility of Election Day violence, voting disruptions

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Bracing for possible civil unrest on Election Day, the Justice Department is planning to station officials in a command center at FBI headquarters to coordinate the federal response to any disturbances or other problems with voting that may arise across the country, officials familiar with the matter said.

Though the Justice Department monitors elections every year to ensure voters can cast their ballots, officials’ concerns are more acute this year that toxic politics, combined with the potential uncertainty surrounding vote tallies, could lead to violent demonstrations or clashes between opposing factions, those familiar with the matter said.

Preparations have been underway in recent weeks to deal with a wide range of possible problems, the officials said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. Continue reading.

West Virginia Official Debunks Trump’s Tale Of Postal Worker ’Selling Ballots’

President Donald Trump has claimed that a postal worker in West Virginia was “selling” voting ballots. But West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, a Republican, has refuted the president’s claim — and a postal worker who did plead guilty to attempted election fraud in that state, according to the Associated Press, wasn’t selling them.

During the raucous, chaotic presidential debate on Tuesday night, Trump referred to the case of Thomas Cooper — a postal worker who, AP notes, “pleaded guilty, in July, to attempted election fraud and injury to the mail after changing five ballot requests from Democrat to Republican. He also altered three other ballot applications by circling the word ‘Republican’ in a different color ink than what was used on the forms, Secretary of State Mac Warner said in a written statement.”

Cooper, according to AP, did admit to an illegal act, but Trump mischaracterized his actions. No ballots were sold, and Warner said that the attempted fraud was a “unique circumstance where a postal carrier altered absentee ballot applications, not ballots.” Continue reading.

Never Mind! ‘Misplaced’ Ballots Were Result Of Minor Error

Donald Trump’s war on mail-in voting this week turned out to be all for naught after election workers in Pennsylvania admitted to an envelope mix-up that Trump had initially claimed was part of a broader fraud scheme.

On Thursday morning, Trump complained about the supposed mail-in voter fraud on Fox News radio, claiming that ballots cast for him had been recently found in the trash.

“They found six ballots in an office yesterday in a garbage can,” he told host Brian Kilmeade. “They were Trump ballots. Eight ballots. In an office yesterday in a certain state. And they were. They had Trump written on it, and they were thrown in a garbage can.” Continue reading.

6 ways mail-in ballots are protected from fraud

Voter fraud is very rare, whether people vote in person or by mail. That much is clear from a large body of research. 

One of us is a political scientist at the University of Washington, and the other is a former elections commissioner who now studies voting laws. We can explain why voter fraud is so rare – especially for mail-in ballots, which have drawn both the interest and concern of many people this year. 

The goal, of course, is to make sure that ballots received by mail are legitimate – that they are cast by registered voters, not by others lying about their identity, and that each voter casts only one ballot in a single election. The mail-in voting process has several built-in safeguards that together make it hard for one person to vote fraudulently, and even more difficult to commit voter fraud on a scale capable of swinging election outcomes. Continue reading.