With election day just a day away, it’s worth explaining again why the president’s anecdotes and allegations are inaccurate. Here is a quick outline of 16 of his election statements.
Trump has claimed he can only lose the election if the Democrats commit ‘massive fraud’. That is simply not true. Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives in a free and fair midterm election in 2018, and Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, has consistently led in the national polls of the 2020 race – plus many important polls battlefield states.
Trump has broadly stated that the entries are full of fraud. This is also just fake. Although fraud cases do occur, they are very rare.
Unsolicited ballot papers
Trump specifically claimed that “unsolicited” ballots – those sent by states that automatically offer a ballot to all registered voters – are particularly fraudulent, calling these ballots a “scam” and a “joke. “Again, this is just false. There was no widespread fraud in the states that sent out ‘unsolicited’ votes in previous elections – including Republican-run Utah.
Non-citizens vote
Trump has claimed that California has sent ballot papers to every state resident this year, including undocumented immigrants. This is false. Ballot papers were sent to all registered voters who must be elected, who must be citizens of the United States.
Count votes after election day
Trump has suggested that it could be a violation of the law for states to (possibly) count ballots for two weeks after election day; he has claimed a “final total” on Tuesday. In fact, votes are always counted after election day.
It is media sales, not the government, that sometimes – but not always – unofficially projects a winner on election night. The outlets do this by making projections based on the incomplete available data, not because it has certified final totals.
Ballot papers are accepted after election day
Trump has suggested that ballot papers posted by election day but received thereafter are illegal. There is nothing illegal about such voices; Although some states do not accept ballots that arrive after election day, many states do – including Republican-run states such as Mississippi and West Virginia. Ballot papers by overseas military members are among the parties that some countries accept after election day.
Rejected ballot papers
Trump uses the fact that some ballot papers are rejected – 1% were rejected according to federal data in 2016 as proof that something sinister is happening. Not so. Ballot papers are usually rejected for non-fraud reasons, such as voters forgetting to include their signature or missing the submission deadline.
Foreign interference
Trump has claimed that foreign countries can easily produce forged ballots – even predict on Twitter in June that foreign countries are going to print ‘millions’ of it. But experts have explain that securing ballot papers would make it extremely difficult for any country to succeed with a false right to vote.
Ballot papers and a river
Trump claimed 50,000 ballots were found in a river. That did not happen. (Trump and his team have never named the alleged river.)
An error in Virginia
Trump also claimed there was an incident with 500,000 ballots in Virginia.
The incident is actually related to a non-profit group that incorrectly sent 500,000 voters’ absent ballot papers application packages – not themselves ballot papers – that contain incorrect information, such as envelopes sent to the wrong office. It was a significant mistake, but it was not fraud, and Virginia authorities said they would make sure the right office receives any applications that were initially sent to the wrong office.
A Democratic primary in New York
Trump called a Democratic congressional election in New York, led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney was won, as a supposed example of fraud with ballot papers. Although there were various issues in this 12th District Race, a significant number of ballots were rejected for non-fraud reasons; the score was slow due to administrative problems – even Maloney’s defeated opponent said there is no sign of fraud.
Polls in a Trash Can in Pennsylvania
Trump referred to an incident in which nine military ballots were found in a trash can in a Pennsylvania provincial election office, and he claimed that all nine of those ballots were brought out for him. To date, there is no evidence of intentional violations in this incident; local officials said a mistake was made by an inexperienced contract worker. And although an initial Justice Department news release said all nine votes had been cast for Trump, the department reviewed the release to say seven votes had been cast for Trump and two were unknown.
Democratic governors in Pennsylvania and Nevada
Trump has tried to doubt the election results in Pennsylvania and Nevada in advance by claiming that their Democratic governors are in control of the ballot papers there. This is untrue in both cases: the ballot papers are sent by local provincial officials and not by the governors. And it is noteworthy that the top official of Nevada, Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, is a Republican.
Nevada and signatures
Trump claimed that Nevada did not confirm the voter signature for the entry. It’s just wrong; signatures are checked in the state.
Philadelphia in 2012
Trump suggested there was massive fraud in Philadelphia in the 2012 election, saying it was suspicious that Republican candidate Mitt Romney received “almost zero votes” across the city. In fact, there is no evidence of mass fraud, and Romney received 96,467 Philadelphia votes, about 14% of the city total. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Romney did get 50 votes in 50 of the 1,687 voting “sections” in the city, but these districts were overwhelmingly populated by black residents, and Romney was against President Barack Obama. Even Republican leaders in the city said there was no reason to claim that the results in these sections were evidence of fraud.
A California settlement
Trump claims that California authorities have acknowledged that they have found one million fraudulent votes in the state. It never happened. The legal settlement to which Trump referred, in which the conservative group Judicial Watch was involved, did not include any recognition of fraud or misconduct; the settlement was about removing inactive registrations – such as people who died or moved away – from the voter list.