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Less than six weeks before the US presidential election on November 3, incumbent Donald Trump continues to raise questions about its possible outcome. “We have to make sure that the election is honest. But I don’t know if it can be, “Trump said Thursday with a view to mailing the voting papers.
Trump has been claiming for weeks that election documents sent millions of times to American citizens dramatically increased the risk of voter fraud. The experts and those responsible for the elections deny it. “The Democrats are rigging our 2020 election!” Trump added Friday night on Twitter.
Trump repeatedly told his supporters that he was convinced he could only lose the vote because of electoral fraud. On Wednesday, when asked by a journalist, he refused to promise in advance a peaceful transfer of power. “We have to wait and see what happens,” he said instead. Trump’s comments drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
The Senate, in which Republicans have a majority, passed a resolution Thursday declaring a commitment to the peaceful handover of power.
Trump also referred to a notice from the Pennsylvania State Department of Justice that nine discarded ballots had been discovered. The authority had initially discussed nine ballots for Trump, but later made it clear that this was only safe for seven of them. The other two were in the envelopes that came with them when the FBI seized them.
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They were voting papers for members of the armed forces and some could also be assigned to individuals. In Pennsylvania, mail-in ballot envelopes must remain sealed until Election Day.
According to the investigators’ first findings, the employees of the local election authority opened the envelopes with the ballots because they looked very similar to the envelopes with the mail-in voting document requests. Meanwhile, Trump took the opportunity to speak of irregularities. “You throw it in the trash if it has Trump’s name on it, I guess,” he said.
Influential Republican promises an orderly transfer of power
The top Republican in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, did not openly criticize Trump’s remarks, but felt compelled to make sure that everything would play out according to legal rules. “The winner of the November 3 elections will be appointed to office on January 20. There will be an orderly transition, as has been the case every four years since 1792, ”McConnell wrote on Twitter Thursday.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday when reporters asked: “The president will accept the results of a free and fair election.” It will accept the will of the American people. At the same time, McEnany said Trump was concerned about vote-by-mail, which could be used to commit fraud. FBI Chief Christopher Wray recently told a Senate hearing that there has been no large-scale voter fraud in the United States. The FBI was watching, he said.
Due to the corona pandemic, many more postal voters are expected. Therefore, the vote count could be delayed, and unlike most past presidential elections, the winner of the election could not be determined on election night, but only a few days after the election or even later. .
Many Democrats fear that Trump may question the legality of the vote as a whole and is already preparing the ground for it with his warnings of voter fraud. In August, Trump said he would only lose “if the election is rigged.”
“He says the most irrational things”
US security authorities warned on Tuesday that foreign actors and cybercriminals could use the time between election day and the availability of results to spread disinformation about the outcome to discredit the electoral process and discredit trust in the democratic institutions of the Undermine EE. USA
Commenting on Trump’s testimony on Wednesday, his challenger Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware, according to reporters: “He’s saying the most irrational things. I do not know what to say “. The leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, also criticized Trump’s statement: “This is how democracy dies. A president who is so desperate to cling to power that he does not want to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “Schumer tweeted:” President Trump: You are not a dictator and the United States will not allow you to become one. “
House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she was confident the American people would get a clear result in November. “That the president of the United States questions the idea of a peaceful transfer of power, well, that is not a surprise,” he said.
Peaceful change of power is essential
Sen. Mitt Romney, one of Trump’s harshest Republican critics, wrote on Twitter: “The peaceful transfer of power is critical to democracy; without that is Belarus. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is unthinkable and unacceptable. “
Trump has already caused a stir in the past by not wanting to commit to accepting an election result. In an interview with Fox News in July, the president said, when asked if he would accept the result: “I have to see that.” During the 2016 election campaign, Trump said: “I will fully appreciate the results of this great and historic presidential election I fully accept when I win.” (dpa)
