Trump claims that investigations of suspect registration are proof of fraud
1/11/2024 6:03
Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump and his supporters are spreading false
claims about the election in battleground Pennsylvania ahead of
Tuesday's vote, escalating concerns in a state that could tip
the outcome of the race.
Trump on Thursday stepped up his unfounded allegations that
probes into suspect voter registration forms are proof of voter
fraud. Some of his supporters alleged voter suppression when
long lines formed this week to receive mail-in ballots.
State officials and democracy advocates said the incidents
show a system working as intended. A judge extended the mail-in
ballot deadline by three days in Bucks County, north of
Philadelphia, after the former U.S. president's campaign sued
over claims that some voters were turned away before a Tuesday
deadline.
Election officials discovered potentially fraudulent
registrations in Lancaster and neighboring York counties,
prompting investigations by local law enforcement. There is no
evidence the applications have led or will lead to illegal
votes.
"This is a sign that the built-in safeguards in our voter
registration process are working," Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania's
top elections official, told reporters this week.
Opinion polls, both nationally and in the seven battleground
states, show Trump locked in a tight race with Democratic Vice
President Kamala Harris. Trump, who continues to falsely claim
that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the
result of widespread fraud, insists falsely that he is winning.
"We're going to have a big victory," he told supporters in
Wisconsin on Wednesday. Asked if he could envision a scenario in
which he lost, he said, "if it was a corrupt election, it could
happen."
Trump's claims have raised concerns that he is preparing to
again blame a potential loss in Pennsylvania, the largest of the
seven states likely to decide the result of the election, on
voter fraud.
In a social media post on Thursday, he said: "We caught them
CHEATING BIG in Pennsylvania" and demanded criminal
prosecutions.
"The facts are there were thousands of fraudulent voter
registrations dumped, and voters were turned away throughout
Pennsylvania," Republican National Committee spokesperson Claire
Zunk said. "We are fighting to protect every legal vote and stop
Democrat election interference."
SOWING SEEDS OF CHALLENGES
Democracy advocates hear echoes of Trump's 2020 attempt to
overturn his loss, which culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault
on the U.S. Capitol.
"This is sowing the seeds for attempts to overturn an
election result that cuts against Donald Trump," said Kyle
Miller, a Pennsylvania policy strategist for the advocacy group
Protect Democracy. "We saw it in 2020 and I think the lesson
Trump and his allies have learned since is that they have to sow
these ideas early."
A senior Harris campaign official on Thursday said Trump's
claims were an example of the former president trying to "sow
doubt in our elections and institutions when he's afraid he
can't win."
In Lancaster County, in southeastern Pennsylvania, the clerk
of elections reported that she received about 2,500 applications
close to the Oct. 21 voter registration deadline, according to
Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams.
"Staff noticed that numerous applications appeared to have
the same handwriting, were filled out on the same day with
unknown signatures, and some were previously registered voters”
whose signatures on file did not match those on the
application,” Adams said at a press conference last week.
She said that the forms appeared to be connected to a paid,
“large-scale canvassing operation” that had been operating since
June, signing up voters at public places like shopping centers,
grocery stores and parks. She did not identify the operation.
York County said in a statement it declined about 740
registration applications, many of which were duplicates,
received as part of a large batch last week. The county district
attorney is reviewing those applications, according to the
statement.
Schmidt, the state's top elections official, said local law
enforcement investigations would determine if criminal charges
are warranted in either case.
State officials have expressed concern about online
disinformation undermining trust in the process.
U.S. intelligence agencies determined that a video
purporting to show ballots being torn up in Bucks County was
manufactured and spread by Russian actors as part of Moscow's
effort to stoke divisions over the election.
Bucks County officials said a miscommunication led security
to briefly turn away some voters from the county election office
on Tuesday, when a long line formed ahead of a 5 p.m. deadline
to apply for a mail-in ballot. State officials had previously
said anyone in line by 5 p.m. would be accommodated.
Bucks County said in a statement it was pleased that a judge
later extended the mail-in ballot deadline until Friday.
In Colorado, which is seen as solidly Democratic, the Trump
campaign has also sought to exploit an admission from the
secretary of state's office that partial passwords to voting
systems were included in a spreadsheet posted the office's
public website.
The campaign on Thursday asked the state to halt the
processing of mail-in ballots and to prepare to re-scan all of
them over the issue.
The office previously said the disclosure will not impact
how ballots are counted.
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