Trump’s fraud claims are raising concerns about another US election being covered by Reuters
Written by Joseph Tanfani and Andrew Goudsward
PHILADELPHIA – Donald Trump’s false statements about voter fraud in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania have raised concerns that he may again try to overturn the election results if he does not fare well against Democrat Kamala Harris in the US presidential election on Tuesday.
Opinion polls, nationally and in seven very different states, show former President Trump locked in a tight race with Vice President Harris four days before Election Day.
Trump continues to lie that his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 was the result of widespread fraud in many of the states Trump lost, while he and his supporters spread baseless claims about the election.
Trump on Thursday reinforced his baseless allegations that an investigation into Pennsylvania’s voter registration forms is evidence of voter fraud. Some of his supporters blamed voter suppression when long lines formed this week to receive mail-in ballots.
Harris’ Democrats, on the other hand, are preparing for the possibility that Trump will try to claim victory early before all the votes are counted, as he did in 2020. do so.
“We are very prepared if he does that again, if we know that he is actually manipulating the media and trying to manipulate the consensus of the American people … we are prepared to respond,” Harris said in an interview with ABC on Wednesday.
Trump’s false claims about voter fraud after the 2020 vote preceded Jan. 6, 2021, an attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters who want to stop or interfere with the congressional confirmation of the electoral votes that decide who becomes president.
“This is planting the seeds of attempts to subvert the election,” said Kyle Miller, strategist for the rights group Protect Democracy. “We saw it in 2020, and I think the lesson that Trump and his supporters have learned is that they have to sow these ideas early.”
Trump allies have also expressed concern that non-citizens could vote in large numbers, although there are few examples of that happening.
On Friday, several US intelligence agencies said Russia created a video circulating online that falsely showed Haitians voting multiple times in the state of Georgia. The video is part of Russia’s efforts to undermine confidence in the election and divide the American people, the organizations said.
Georgia’s top election official said Thursday that the video may have come from a Russian farm.
State officials and Democratic advocates say the events in Pennsylvania show the system is working as intended. A judge extended the deadline for voting by mail by three days in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, after the former US president’s campaign sued over allegations that some voters were turned away before the Tuesday deadline.
Election officials discovered possible fraudulent registrations in Lancaster and neighboring York counties, prompting an investigation by local law enforcement. There is no evidence that the petitions resulted in illegal votes.
As the election approaches, election officials are scrambling to dispel false narratives about voter fraud.
In Pennsylvania’s Northampton County, an activist posted a video of someone dropping off a ballot bin at the county courthouse and said it was suspicious; it was a United States Postal Service employee who “literally delivered the mail,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt.
The video has been viewed more than five million times on X.
“I think what’s very different this year is the deliberate spread of false information that has spread around the world before we’ve had a chance to reveal the truth,” said Kathy Boockvar, former Pennsylvania secretary of state, during the webinar. On Friday.
PREPARING FOR INSURANCE LOSSES
Trump held a rally in Michigan on Friday and would later speak in Wisconsin, while Harris was speaking in Janesville, Wisconsin and would return to Milwaukee for a rally that included rapper Cardi B.
Harris campaign officials say their internal data shows Harris winning state voters who decided last week by double digits.
Trump’s rally in New York on Sunday, which featured profanity and racism from allies, was the “last straw” for late-night voters, according to a Harris campaign official.
Trump is telling his supporters to expect a big victory on Tuesday, saying he would consider losing “if it was a corrupt election.”
Trump’s comments have raised concerns that he is preparing to once again blame a possible loss in Pennsylvania, the largest of the seven states that could decide the outcome of the election, on voter fraud.
In a social media post on Thursday, he said: “We caught them in a BIG scam in Pennsylvania” and called for them to be criminally prosecuted.
The United States’ unique system of selecting the president, based on the Constitution enacted in 1789, gives Trump the opportunity to seek to undermine the results of elections at the local, state and national levels.
In 2020, Trump’s team tried 60 cases in court alleging fraud in many states, without success. But the experience has prepared lawyers from both parties to try another attempt this year.
