Claiming at the White House briefing on Thursday that the 2020 elections could be “arranged” and “manipulated,” President Trump again highlighted the risks of universal mail voting across the country in stark terms, even citing News articles and experts who have raised similar concerns
Before answering questions, Trump honored former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, noting that “unfortunately, he passed away from a thing called the China virus.” Trump also hit Democrats’ plans to keep schools and businesses closed, saying they would cause “probably more deaths” and economic destruction than the coronavirus itself.
Within seconds, Trump was pressured into his tweet earlier in the day suggesting that the election could be delayed due to mail ballot fraud. He replied that delays in the mail vote results, including lost ballots, could mean that the winner of the election is unclear for weeks or even months after Election Day.
SWIFT BACKLASH AFTER TRUMP SUGGESTS THE CHOICE OF DELAY
“You are sending hundreds of millions of universal ballots by mail. Hundreds of millions. Where are they going? Who is they being sent to? It is common sense,” Trump said. “I want an election, and a result, much more than you. I think we are doing very well … I don’t want to see a fraudulent election.”
The president put up a Wall Street Journal article titled “New York Mail Voting Disaster” as well as a CBS News article titled “The Mail Voting Experiment Reveals Possible Problems Within the Postal Voting System Before the Elections of November”. He quoted a similar piece in The Washington Post.
The press conference followed a backlash against Trump’s comments from both sides of the aisle on Thursday, with Democrats criticizing the suggestion and some Republicans saying they opposed it. The Senate’s top Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, flatly told a Kentucky news station that the elections would not take place.
Earlier this month, a Fox News review found a series of mail-in ballot problems in the recent election. A dramatic local news report this week, tweeted by the President on Thursday, highlighted the missing ballots in a test of the United States Postal Service’s ability to handle ballots by mail.
“We all agree that absentee voting is good,” Trump said, referring to vote-by-mail where citizens provide justification for remotely mailing a ballot. He then hit Democrats for voicing concerns about Russian electoral interference, only to ignore the risks posed by mail voting.
“Voting by mail will lead to the greatest fraud,” he added. “Stupid people may not know it.”
The uproar started when Trump tweeted at 8:46 am ET: “With universal vote by mail (not absentee voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most UNACCURRED and FRAUDULENT election in history. It will be a great shame for the United States. Delay the election until people can vote properly, safely and securely ??? “
VOTING FACES BY MAIL ARE FOUND WITH A HUGE AMOUNT OF PROBLEMS THROUGHOUT THE NATIONAL, FOX NEWS FINDS
Hours later, Trump seemed to suggest he was trying to raise awareness, not seriously suggest that he would try to delay the election. “I am glad that I was able to get the very dishonest LameStream media outlets to finally start talking about the RISKS to our Democracy from the dangerous Universal Mail Voting (not the Absence Voting, which I totally support!” He wrote.
Voting by mail has been described by several experts as an invitation to widespread fraud.
“Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential electoral fraud,” reads the conclusion of a 2005 bipartisan report prepared by the Federal Electoral Reform Commission, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James. Baker.
And a 2012 article in The New York Times was titled “Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Increases.” The article states that “votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised, and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth, statistics show.”
Twitter previously placed a warning label on Trump’s tweets about mail ballots. Fox News reported that Twitter “Head of Site Integrity” Yoel Roth is in charge of fact-checking efforts, and that he has previously referred to Trump and his team as “CURRENT NAZIS” mocked the Trump supporters saying “we flew over those states that voted for a racist tangerine for a reason” and called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a “fart bag with no personality.”
