Highlights:
Trump Stated Mail-In Voting Would Lead To “Massive Fraud And Abuse.” According to the Washington Post, "Trump, however, has taken aim much more broadly at the practice of voting by mail, making sweeping and unfounded claims that it will lead to ‘MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE,’ as he tweeted Thursday." [Washington Post, 6/1/20]
Trump: “We Don’t Want Anyone To Do Mail-In Ballots.” According to PBS, “‘We don’t want anyone to do mail-in ballots,’ Trump told reporters before leaving for Michigan. That state drew the president’s ire announcing this week it was sending ballot request forms to all voters to encourage safe voting during the coronavirus pandemic.” [PBS, 5/21/20]
Trump Claimed Mail-In Votes Were Stolen From Mailboxes, Had Signatures Forged, And Ballots Were Illegally Printed. According to CNN, “Specifically, and without evidence, Trump has claimed that mail-in voting is particularly susceptible to fraud, casting it as a lawless, unregulated exercise where ballots are stolen from mailboxes, voter signatures are routinely forged and even the ballots themselves are illegally printed.” [CNN, 5/28/20]
Trump Falsely Claimed California Sent Ballots To Undocumented Immigrants. According to CNN, “On Tuesday, Trump tweeted a flurry of accusations, including falsely claiming that California was sending ballots to undocumented immigrants and was prepared to let ‘anyone,’ regardless of residency, vote by mail.” [CNN, 5/28/20]
March 17, 2020: Trump Voted Absentee In Florida’s Presidential Primary. According to the Huffington Post, “Trump has acknowledged voting absentee in Florida’s March 17 presidential primary, but the White House would not say how his and first lady Melania Trump’s ballots made their way from Garcia, who picked them up in Florida on March 9, to the White House, and then back to the elections office in West Palm Beach, where they were dropped off on March 16.” [Huffington Post, 5/12/20]
Donald And Melania Trump’s Ballots Were Hand-Delivered To West Palm Beach, A Process He Has Attacked. According to the Huffington Post, “Under definitions used by President Donald Trump and many of his Republican allies, election fraud has been taking place at the nation’s most prominent address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There at the White House, Trump and his wife marked ballots that an intermediary had received from elections officers in Florida. Those ballots were then hand-delivered back to West Palm Beach for tabulation — a process that is legal under Florida law, but which Trump himself has equated to fraud. According to documents HuffPost obtained under Florida’s open records law, the person who picked up the ballots was named Alejandro Garcia — the same name as one of the Republican National Committee’s top Florida operatives. Garcia declined to discuss the matter with HuffPost and referred questions to RNC headquarters. A spokesman there did not respond to queries.” [Huffington Post, 5/12/20]
April 2020: Trump Argued Americans Should Vote In-Person During The Pandemic Despite Having Voted By Mail In 2018. According to MSNBC, “At the end of Friday’s White House press briefing, a reporter noted that allowing voters to cast ballots through the mail might help protect the public from a deadly pandemic. Donald Trump balked, asserting without evidence that he believes ‘a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting.’ The president went on to describe his ideal system of elections: ‘It should be: You go to a booth and you proudly display yourself.’ Evidently, the Republican is so committed to this principle, he believes it must be the American model, even during a pandemic, even if there are safer alternatives that are readily available and being implemented in some states. Trump’s posture is problematic for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that he voted in 2018, not by going to a booth and proudly displaying himself, but by ... wait for it ... mailing in his ballot. This came up yesterday after the president denounced mail-in balloting as ‘horrible’ and ‘corrupt.’ It was at this point that a reporter reminded Trump of the inconvenient detail about his own recent history” [MSNBC, 4/8/20]
Trump Claimed Mail-In Ballots Would Lead To “Total Election Fraud,” Making An Exception For Circumstances Similar To Those That Allowed Him To Vote Absentee. According to MSNBC, “Yesterday, Trump brought his position into sharper focus -- or at least, he tried to. ‘We don’t want [Michigan officials] to do mail-in ballots because it’s going to lead to total election fraud. So we don’t want them to do mail-in ballots. We don’t want anyone to do mail-in ballots. Now, if somebody has to mail it in because they’re sick or, by the way, because they live in the White House and they have to vote in Florida and they won’t be in Florida -- if there’s a reason for it, that’s okay. If there’s a reason. But if there’s not -- we don’t want -- we don’t to take any chances with fraud in our elections.’” [MSNBC, 5/22/20]
Washington Post Headline: 16 Trump Officials Who Have Voted By Mail Recently, Despite Trump’s Warnings About It. [Washington Post, 6/22/20]
Vice President Pence Repeatedly Voted Absentee And Continued To List The Indiana Governor’s Residence As His Address Three Years After Leaving. According to the Associated Press, “Vice President Mike Pence and a half-dozen other senior advisers to President Donald Trump have repeatedly voted by mail, according to election records obtained by The Associated Press. That undercuts the president’s argument that the practice will lead to widespread fraud this November. More than three years after leaving the Indiana governor’s residence, Pence still lists that as his official residence and votes absentee accordingly.” [Associated Press, 6/22/20]
Education Secretary DeVos Voted Absentee In All But Three Michigan Elections Over A Decade. According to the Associated Press, “DeVos, the education secretary, has voted absentee in all but three Michigan elections over the past decade, according to records. Trump threatened last month to withhold federal funding after Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state mailed out absentee ballot applications to registered voters. DeVos’ family has donated millions of dollars to Republican causes, including groups that are now part of a fierce court fight to limit the expansion of vote-by-mail. [Associated Press, 6/22/20]
Health And Human Services Secretary Azar Utilized Absentee Ballots To Vote. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Trump is hardly the only administration official to vote by mail. Vice President Mike Pence voted absentee by mail for both the primary and general election in 2018. Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services secretary, also voted absentee in 2018 and Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, has voted absentee 15 times in the last 15 years, according to Florida’s voter file. Mr. Ross, like Mr. Trump, voted absentee for Florida’s primary last month.” [New York Times, 6/2/20]
Commerce Secretary Ross Voted Absentee 15 Times Over 15 Years. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Trump is hardly the only administration official to vote by mail. Vice President Mike Pence voted absentee by mail for both the primary and general election in 2018. Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services secretary, also voted absentee in 2018 and Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, has voted absentee 15 times in the last 15 years, according to Florida’s voter file. Mr. Ross, like Mr. Trump, voted absentee for Florida’s primary last month.” [New York Times, 6/2/20]
2010 - 2020: White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Who Defended Trump’s Attacks On Mail-In Voting, Voted By Mail 11 Times. According to The Hill, “White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who has defended President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, has voted by mail 11 times since 2010, the Tampa Bay Times reported Wednesday. McEnany's voting record reviewed by the newspaper indicated that the Florida native has voted by mail in every election she participated in since 2010. Like Trump, who is now a Florida resident, McEnany also voted by mail in the 2020 presidential primary election in March. McEnany last week defended the president casting a mail-in vote while claiming without evidence that the practice is subject to rampant fraud, saying, Trump is the commander-in-chief, ‘which means he’s here in Washington. He’s unable to cast his vote down in Florida, his state of residence.’” [The Hill, 5/27/20]
Bill Stepien Voted By Mail Seven Times Between 2006 And 2015 In Morris County, New Jersey. [William Stepien Election History, accessed 6/10/20]
Trump’s Former Campaign Manager Brad Parscale Voted By Mail In 2018. According to the Washington Post, “Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale: Didn’t vote at all in the 2016 general election, which he told CBS was because of ‘a series of problems’ getting his absentee ballot, citing that as evidence of potential problems with absentee voting. He voted by mail in 2018.” [Washington Post, 6/22/20]
2018: Parscale Voted By Mail In Bexar County, Despite Not Meeting The State Absentee Voting Criteria. According to the Associated Press, “In Texas, where Parscale voted by mail in 2018, there are stiff absentee ballot laws, requiring a person to be over 65, disabled, or out of the county where they are registered during early voting, as well as on Election Day. Parscale was in Houston for a Trump rally on Oct. 22, 2018, the day early voting began in San Antonio, where he lived at the time, according to records and several tweets he sent. The day after, he signed a statement of residence that was submitted to county election officials to clarify his address. Yet it’s unclear if he traveled to San Antonio, where his presence would have disqualified him from voting absentee. The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that fear of contracting the coronavirus does not make voters eligible to cast their ballot by mail. [Associated Press, 6/22/20]
Senior Trump Campaign Advisor Nick Ayers Consistently Voted Absentee Since 2014. According to The Associated Press, “Two other senior Trump campaign officials — chief operating officer Michael Glassner and deputy campaign manager Bill Stepien — have repeatedly voted by mail in New Jersey. And Nick Ayers, a senior campaign adviser who was previously chief of staff to Pence, has voted by mail in Georgia since 2014.” [Associated Press, 6/22/20]
Michael Glassner Voted By Mail In Morris County, NJ 4 Times Since 2016 Including Most Recently In November 2019. [Michael Glassner Election History, accessed 6/10/20]
In Pennsylvania, The RNC Encouraged Republican Voters To Vote By Mail, Calling It “An Easy, Convenient And Secure Way” To Vote. According to the Washington Post, "The same week President Trump told the public that voting by mail is ‘corrupt’ and ‘RIPE for FRAUD,’ his own party was sending a very different message to Republican voters in Pennsylvania. ‘Voting by mail is an easy, convenient and secure way to cast your ballot,’ read a mail piece the Republican National Committee distributed across the Keystone State. ‘Return the attached official Republican Party mail-in ballot application to avoid lines and protect yourself from large crowds on Election Day.’" [Washington Post, 4/12/20]
The Florida Republican Party Mailed Fliers Encouraging Voters To Request Mail-In Ballots, Despite Trump’s Vocal Opposition To Absentee Voting. According to the Orlando Sentinel, “Despite President Trump’s continued railing against voting by mail, his fellow Republicans in Florida are continuing to encourage GOP and no party affiliation voters to request mail ballots. Fliers from the Republican Party of Florida started showing up in mailboxes last week, showing a tweet from Trump stating that ‘Absentee ballots are fine. A person has to go through a process to get and use them.’” [Orlando Sentinel, 7/13/20]
The Florida GOP Absentee Voter Advocacy Fliers Featured An Edited Trump Tweet Removing His Critical Commentary On Mail-In Ballots. According to Politico, “President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric against mail-in voting is causing a big problem for Florida Republicans, who once dominated the practice here. So the state GOP came up with a solution: They doctored one of Trump’s tweets on the issue to remove the stigma. In a mass-solicitation designed to boost flagging interest in registering to vote by mail, the Republican Party of Florida featured a Trump tweet from June 28 that praised absentee ballots but that had his opposition to mail-in voting strategically edited out. ‘Absentee Ballots are fine. A person has to go through a process to get and use them,’ Trump said in the tweet. The rest of the quote was blurred out: ‘Mail-In Voting, on the other hand, will lead to the most corrupt Election is USA history. Bad things happen with Mail-Ins. Just look at Special Election in Patterson, N.J. 19% of Ballots a FRAUD.’ There’s no difference between mail-in voting and absentee ballot voting. Trump is claiming a distinction that does not exist, all the while exaggerating the fraud risks, prevalence and effects of voting by mail.” [Politico, 7/15/20]
Pennsylvania Republican Leaders Wanted To Raise Millions Of Dollars To Convince Voters To Embrace Mail-In Voting Despite Trump’s Objections. According to Reuters, “Pennsylvania Republican leaders are trying to raise millions of dollars to convince state voters to embrace mail-in ballots and to ignore criticism from their party's likely presidential candidate, Donald Trump, over the practice. The previously unreported effort puts Republican leadership in Pennsylvania, one of the most important battleground states in the 2024 presidential race, at odds with Trump over 'absentee' or mail-in balloting. Trump, who continues to falsely allege he won the 2020 race, said this week ‘you automatically have fraud’ when mail-in voting systems are used. The remarks are Trump's latest in years of allegations, without evidence, that mail-in ballots make election results unreliable. A small group of Pennsylvania Republicans are hoping to raise some $8 million to fund an education campaign in the state aimed at soothing Republican voters' concerns about the integrity of casting ballots by mail, officials told Reuters. The money will fund staff to knock on doors in a personal persuasion campaign, officials said.” [Reuters, 2/23/24]
Trump Repeatedly Criticized Attempts To Increase Voter Turnout, And Asserted If The Number Of Voters Increased, “You’d Never Have A Republican Elected In This Country Again.” According to the Washington Post, “President Trump on Monday morning became the latest in a procession of Republicans to say making it easier for more people to vote would hurt his party politically. In an interview on ‘Fox & Friends,’ Trump referenced proposals from Democrats in the coronavirus stimulus negotiations that would have vastly increased funding for absentee and vote-by-mail options. The final package included $400 million for the effort, which was far less than what Democrats had sought. ‘The things they had in there were crazy,’ Trump said. ‘They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.’ Trump didn’t expand on the thought. But he clearly linked high turnout to Republicans losing elections. The most generous reading of his comment is that he was referring to large-scale voter fraud resulting from the easier vote-by-mail options; Trump has in the past baselessly speculated about millions of fraudulent votes helping Democrats in the 2016 election. The more nefarious reading would be that allowing more people to participate in the process legally would hurt his party because there are more Democratic-leaning voters in the country.” [Washington Post, 3/30/20]
Trump’s Campaign Attacked Vote By Mail And Dedicated Millions To Lawsuits And Ads Aimed To Restrict Ballots And Voter Rolls. According to the Washington Post, "President Trump’s persistent attacks on mail-in voting have fueled an unprecedented effort by conservatives to limit expansion of the practice before the November election, with tens of millions of dollars planned for lawsuits and advertising aimed at restricting who receives ballots and who remains on the voter rolls. The strategy, embraced by Trump’s reelection campaign, the Republican National Committee and an array of independent conservative groups, reflects the recognition by both parties that voting rules could decide the outcome of the 2020 White House race amid the electoral challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic." [Washington Post, 6/1/20]
July 2020: The RNC Filed Lawsuits In 12 States To Restrict Mail-In Voting Or Invalidate State Level Policies On Mail-In Ballots. According to Rolling Stone, “In February, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee announced that they would spend $10 million on voting-related lawsuits in 2020 — a figure that has since doubled to $20 million. The RNC has so far filed lawsuits in more than a dozen states, including the battlegrounds of Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida. These suits are a mix of offense and defense: Some attempt to block litigation brought by Democratic groups to expand mail-in voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Others seek to invalidate state-level policies by saying that expanding access to mail-in ballots invites fraud. But the uniting theme of the RNC’s suits, says Rick Hasen, a University of California, Irvine law professor and author of Election Meltdown, is simple: ‘Casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election. Raising spurious fraud claims.’” [Rolling Stone, 7/16/20]
Trump Threatened To Withhold Federal Funding To The State Of Michigan Over Expanded Mail-In Voting. According to Politico, “President Donald Trump mischaracterized Michigan’s absentee ballot policies on Wednesday while threatening federal funding to the state if election officials there do not retreat from measures meant to facilitate mail-in voting. […] “Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election,” Trump tweeted. “This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”" [Politico, 5/20/20]
Trump’s Public Threats Attempting To Extort The State Of Michigan Came As The State Works To Navigate A Second Wave Of The Coronavirus And A Flood. According to MSNBC, “Michigan was already hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, and now it’s dealing with another round of devastating conditions. Brutal flooding in the state has breached two dams, forcing thousands of Michigan residents to evacuate in what the National Weather Service has described as a ‘life-threatening situation.’ It was against this backdrop that Donald Trump thought it’d be a good idea to publish a tweet this morning, threatening to cut off Michigan’s federal funding.” [MSNBC, 5/20/20]
2016: Trump Encouraged His Supporters To Act As Poll Watchers. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump has been working diligently to stir up an army of amateur, vigilante poll watchers under the pretense that the presidential election is rigged. Early voting has only begun in just a few states, but Trump is convinced that the fix is in, specifically in certain ‘inner city’ domains, and that rigorous ‘poll monitoring’ is in order.” [Bloomberg, 10/18/16]
Poll Watching Has A Long History As A Voter Intimidation Tactic, Particularly Against Voters Of Color. According to Bloomberg, “But election observing also can be—and has been—weaponized to make sure that the process does not go smoothly, particularly for nonwhite voters. […] What Webb is describing is premeditated voter intimidation, which is illegal under the Voting Rights Act. It’s also akin to voter suppression, because people can be intimidated out of showing up to vote at all. Recall the sight of Trump looming over Hillary Clinton at the October 9 presidential debate—the optics of which were so creepy that Saturday Night Live seized on it. Now imagine thousands of people engaging in that same kind of creepy hovering at urban polling locations, creating a fog of fear over Muslim, Latino, and black voters. It’s a recipe for bedlam in a democratic process that is supposed to be free and fair.” [Bloomberg, 10/18/16]
2016: Trump Supporters At A Rally Said They Planned To, “Look For Illegal Immigrants Who May Attempt To Vote” As Trump Continued To Stoke Fears About Widespread Election Fraud. According to the Boston Globe, “Anger and hostility were the most overwhelming sentiments at a Trump rally in Cincinnati last week, a deep sense of frustration, an us-versus-them mentality, and a belief that they are part of an unstoppable and underestimated movement. Unlike many in the country, however, these hard-core Trump followers do not believe the real estate mogul’s misfortunes are of his own making. They believe what Trump has told them over and over, that this election is rigged, and if he loses, it will be because of a massive conspiracy to take him down. At a time when trust in government is at a low point, Trump is actively stoking fears that a core tenet of American democracy is also in peril: that you can trust what happens at the ballot box. His supporters here said they plan to go to their local precincts to look for illegal immigrants who may attempt to vote. They are worried that Democrats will load up buses of minorities and take them to vote several times in different areas of the city. They’ve heard rumors that boxes of Clinton votes are already waiting somewhere.” [Boston Globe, 10/15/16]
June 2020: The Trump Campaign And Republican National Convention Announced A Plan To Recruit Over 50,000 Poll Watchers. According to NBC News, “Republicans are recruiting an estimated 50,000 volunteers to act as ‘poll watchers’ in November, part of a multimillion-dollar effort to police who votes and how. That effort, coordinated by the Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, includes a $20 million fund for legal battles as well as the GOP’s first national poll-patrol operation in nearly 40 years. While poll watching is an ordinary part of elections — both parties do it — voting rights advocates worry that such a moneyed, large-scale offensive by the Republicans will intimidate and target minority voters who tend to vote Democratic and chill turnout in a pivotal contest already upended by the coronavirus pandemic.” [NBC News, 6/9/20]
April 2024: Trump’s Campaign Planned To Deploy Over 100,000 Attorneys And Volunteers To Monitor Vote Counting In The General Election. According to Politico, “Former President Donald Trump’s political operation said Thursday that it plans to deploy more than 100,000 attorneys and volunteers across battleground states to monitor — and potentially challenge — vote counting in November. The initiative — which the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee described as ‘the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history’ — will include training poll watchers and workers as well as lawyers. The program underscores Trump’s ongoing fixation with election security, which he deployed in an attempt to undermine the results of the 2020 election despite the widespread conclusion, even among Republican officials, that there was no widespread fraud.” [Politico, 4/19/24]
The DNC Sued The RNC After The RNC Allegedly Used Armed Off-Duty Police Officers To Patrol Polling Sites In Minority Neighborhoods During The 1981 Election. According to NBC News, “After the Democratic National Committee sued the RNC for allegedly sending armed, off-duty police officers to patrol the polls in minority neighborhoods in a 1981 election, a federal ‘consent decree’ put in place a year later sharply curtailed the Republican Party's ability coordinate poll watchers by requiring prior judicial approval.” [NBC News, 6/8/20]
The DNC Obtained A Consent Decree Against RNC Requiring Prior Judicial Approval For Coordinated RNC Poll Monitoring. According to NBC News, “After the Democratic National Committee sued the RNC for allegedly sending armed, off-duty police officers to patrol the polls in minority neighborhoods in a 1981 election, a federal ‘consent decree’ put in place a year later sharply curtailed the Republican Party's ability coordinate poll watchers by requiring prior judicial approval.” [NBC News, 6/8/20]
The 1982 Federal Consent Decree Expired In 2017, And In 2018 The Court Declined To Extend The Order. According to Politico, “After more than three decades, Republicans are free of a federal court consent decree that sharply limited the Republican National Committee's ability to challenge voters' qualifications and target the kind of fraud President Donald Trump has alleged affected the 2016 presidential race. Newark-based U.S. District Court Judge John Michael Vazquez ruled in an order released Tuesday that the longstanding decree ended Dec. 1 and will not be extended. The decree, which dated to 1982, arose from a Democratic National Committee lawsuit charging the RNC with seeking to discourage African-Americans from voting through targeted mailings warning about penalties for violating election laws and by posting armed, off-duty law enforcement officers at the polls in minority neighborhoods.” [Politico, 1/9/18]
The RNC Praised The Court Ruling That Declined To Extend The Consent Decree. According to Politico, "An RNC official praised the ruling. ‘We are gratified that the judge recognized our full compliance with the consent decree and rejected the DNC’s baseless claims,’ said RNC communications director Ryan Mahoney. ‘Today’s ruling will allow the RNC to work more closely with state parties and campaigns to do what we do best, ensure that more people vote through our unmatched field program.’” [Politico, 1/9/18]
The RNC Launched A Poll Monitoring Program After The Consent Decree Expired. According to the New York Times, “The Republican program, which has gained steam in recent weeks, envisions recruiting up to 50,000 volunteers in 15 key states to monitor polling places and challenge ballots and voters deemed suspicious. That is part of a $20 million plan that also allots millions to challenge lawsuits by Democrats and voting-rights advocates seeking to loosen state restrictions on balloting. The party and its allies also intend to use advertising, the internet and Mr. Trump’s command of the airwaves to cast Democrats as agents of election theft. The efforts are bolstered by a 2018 federal court ruling that for the first time in nearly four decades allows the national Republican Party to mount campaigns against purported voter fraud without court approval.” [New York Times, 5/18/20]
On An Audio Recording Top Trump Advisor Justin Clark Stated, “Traditionally It’s Always Been Republicans Suppressing Votes In Places.” According to the Associated Press, “One of President Donald Trump’s top reelection advisers told influential Republicans in swing state Wisconsin that the party has ‘traditionally’ relied on voter suppression to compete in battleground states, according to an audio recording of a private event obtained by The Associated Press. The adviser said later that his remarks referred to frequent and false accusations that Republicans employ such tactics. Justin Clark, a senior political adviser and senior counsel to Trump’s reelection campaign, made the remarks on Nov. 21 as part of a wide-ranging discussion about strategies in the 2020 campaign, including more aggressive use of Election Day monitoring of polling places. ‘Traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places,’ Clark said at the event. ‘Let’s start protecting our voters. We know where they are. ... Let’s start playing offense a little bit. That’s what you’re going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program, a much better-funded program.’” [Associated Press, 12/20/19]
July 20, 2020: Bill Stepien Promoted Justin Clark To Deputy Campaign Manager. According to Politico, “President Donald Trump’s newly appointed campaign manager is making more changes to the reelection effort as it barrels toward Election Day. Bill Stepien announced Monday that Justin Clark would be serving as deputy campaign manager, Nick Trainer as director of battleground strategy, and Matt Morgan as campaign counsel.” [Politico, 7/20/20]
2016: Trump Criticized Terry McAuliffe For Extending Voting Rights To Offenders Who Had Served Prison Sentences For Felonies. According to The Hill, “Donald Trump attacked Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on Monday for extending the right to vote people who have served prison sentences for felonies. ‘You know what they just did in the state of Virginia? Two hundred thousand people that were in prison for horrible crimes are being given the right to vote,’ the GOP presidential front-runner told an audience in Rhode Island on Monday. ‘That’s crooked politics,’ Trump added. ‘Because Virginia’s a very close state.’ The billionaire predicted he would win Virginia in November because he has ‘a lot of employees, a tremendous amount of property’ in the state. But he anticipated the newly eligible voters would support the Democratic presidential nominee, which might thwart his chances. ‘They know [the criminals are] going to vote Democrat,’ Trump said of McAuliffe and his political machine. ‘And that could be the swing. That’s how disgusting and dishonest our political system is.’” [The Hill, 4/25/16]
Trump Claimed That He Stopped “Ballot Theft” In Broward County By Sending In “The FBI And The U.S. Attorneys.” According to NBC News, “Trump issued the statement at a time when DeSantis, a Republican and potential presidential candidate, was garnering praise from right-leaning media for his resounding re-election victory last year. ‘[A]fter the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen,’ Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump’s claims, which he did not support with any evidence, raised serious questions about whether he used the power of the presidency to order federal agents to intervene in an election. The bar for the FBI to get involved in election tabulation is exceedingly high, with strict guidelines prohibiting its presence inside voting locations.” [NBC News, 3/14/23]
FBI Said It Had No Records Related To Trump’s Claim That He Sent FBI And U.S. Attorneys To Florida In 2018 To Stop Ballot Theft. According to NBC News, “The FBI has said it can find no records related to former President Donald Trump’s assertions in November that he ‘sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys’ to stop ‘ballot theft’ in Florida during the 2018 election. In a letter dated March 6 and received this week by NBC News, the FBI wrote that it had searched its Central Records System but was ‘unable to identify records’ in response to a reporter’s Freedom of Information Act request seeking any records related to Trump’s claims.” [NBC News, 3/14/23]
John Kelly Said Trump Never Requested The DOJ And FBI To Intervene In Florida 2018 Election. According to the New York Times, “But in response to repeated questions over months, Mr. Kelly said he chose to respond now because Mr. Trump had publicly claimed last week that he had used the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to help Gov. Ron DeSantis win election in Florida in 2018. Mr. Kelly, who was Mr. Trump’s chief of staff at the time, said Mr. Trump never made such a request. If he had, Mr. Kelly said, it would have been an improper use of the Justice Department and the F.B.I.” [New York Times, 11/13/22]
Trump’s Department Of Justice Dropped Cases Taken On By The Obama Administration Against States That Violated The Voting Rights Act Through Discriminatory Policies And Practices. According to the Guardian, “Weeks after Trump took office, the justice department announced it was ending a longstanding legal claim that Texas’ voter ID law – one of the strictest in the country at the time – was passed with discriminatory intent. Months later, the department flipped sides in a different closely-watched case, dropping its opposition to an Ohio law that allowed the state to aggressively remove voters from the rolls and argued in support of Ohio at the Supreme Court. In 2013, the justice department argued Texas should be put under federal supervision after being found to have intentionally discriminated against voters during redistricting so that it wouldn’t do it again. But last year, it reversed its position. In all three of the cases, the briefs explaining the reversals were not signed by career attorneys at the department – a strong signal they did not agree with its contents. ‘The reversals in Texas voter ID and redistricting should be scandalous,’ said Levitt, who worked on the cases in the Obama administration.” [Guardian, 6/23/20]
2017: The Trump Administration Decided To End Its Opposition To Texas Voter ID Laws. According to the Guardian, “An attorney for a voting rights group said Monday that Donald Trump’s administration will no longer challenge a strict Texas voter ID law, signaling a dramatic change in the government’s approach to civil rights under its new attorney general, Jeff Sessions. The justice department told plaintiffs in the case against the law that the government will formally end its opposition to the law, according to Danielle Lang, the deputy director of voting rights for the Campaign Legal Center. ‘It’s a complete 360,’ Lang told the Associated Press. ‘We can’t make heads or tails of any factual reason for the change. There has been no new evidence that’s come to light.’ Lang said the reversal was an ‘extraordinary disappointment’.” [Guardian, 2/27/17]
Federal Courts Previously Ruled That Texas’ Voter ID Laws Requiring Photo ID Discriminated Against Minorities. According to the Guardian, “Early Monday afternoon, it was not immediately clear what specific changes the justice department would make in in court documents, for instance whether it would now argue the law was not passed with intent to discriminate by race. Federal courts have ruled that the 2011 law, which requires one of seven forms of photo ID to cast a ballot, discriminates against minorities.” [Guardian, 2/27/17]
2017: The Trump Department Of Justice Formally Ended Its Opposition In An Ohio Voting Case, And Supported Ohio’s Effort To Purge Thousands Of People From Its Voter Rolls. According to the Washington Post, “The Justice Department has reversed its position in a high-profile voting case in Ohio, siding with the state in its effort to purge thousands of people from its rolls for not voting in recent elections. The move is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to support restrictions on who is eligible to vote, a radical change in philosophy from the previous Justice Department, which sued a number of states over voting laws that it deemed discriminatory against minorities. In a court filing late Monday, Justice Department attorneys took the opposite position from the Obama administration in a case that involves Ohio’s removal last year of tens of thousands of inactive voters from its voting rolls. In their brief, government lawyers say they reconsidered the Ohio vote-purging issue after the ‘change in Administrations,’ and they argue that the state’s actions are legal under federal law. The case is headed next to the Supreme Court.” [Washington Post, 8/8/17]
The Trump Administration Made No Effort To Enforce The Voting Rights Act In States With A History Of Discriminatory Practices Where The Supreme Court Lifted Election Oversight Provisions. According to the Guardian, “The justice department’s silence comes at a time when the Supreme Court has severely curbed the tools at its disposal to prevent discriminatory voting processes. In 2013, the court struck down a key provision in the Voting Rights Act that required certain jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination to get any voting changes approved by either the justice department or a federal court in Washington DC before they went into effect. Now the department and civil rights groups have to proactively bring suits to stop discriminatory voting laws. Following that 2013 decision, Barack Obama’s justice department got involved in three major voting rights lawsuits – two in Texas, one in North Carolina – meant as a signal the department was going to continue to try and aggressively enforce what was left of the Voting Rights Act. The Trump administration has not undertaken any similar kind of major enforcement action.” [Guardian, 6/23/20]
The Department Of Justice Under Trump Did Not Act As Multiple States Had Voters Wait Hours In Line And Jurisdictions Cut In-Person Voting Due To Covid. According to the Guardian, “The Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency with unmatched power to prevent discrimination at the ballot box, has been glaringly quiet when it comes to enforcing voting rights ahead of the 2020 election, former department attorneys say. Amid concern that the attorney general, William Barr, is using the department to advance Trump’s political interests, observers say the department is failing to protect the voting rights of minority groups. Remarkably, while the department has been involved in a handful of cases since Donald Trump’s inauguration, it has largely defended voting restrictions rather than opposing them. The department’s limited public activity has been striking, particularly as several states have seen voters wait hours in line to vote and jurisdictions are rapidly limiting in-person voting options because of the Covid-19 pandemic.” [Guardian, 6/23/20]
Trump Repeatedly Called For Stricter Voter ID Laws. According to The Hill, “Trump has periodically called for stricter voter ID laws, which advocates warn could restrict ballot access in low-income communities, students and people of color. The president floated the idea at multiple campaign rallies leading up to last year’s midterm elections. At a rally in Florida, the president claimed that buying groceries require photo ID and therefore voting should require similar standards. Trump has also as recently as last week spread the false claim that immigrants living illegally in the U.S. vote in large numbers. He has repeatedly blamed his popular vote loss in 2016 on unfounded claims of voter fraud.” [The Hill, 7/30/19]
Trump Claimed Fraudulent Voters Changed Clothing In Their Cars In Order To Bypass Election Officials And Illegally Vote More Than Once. According to CNN, “Trump has used other false examples to bolster his argument in favor of voter ID laws. ‘The Republicans don't win and that's because of potentially illegal votes, which is what I've been saying for a long time,’ Trump said in the Daily Caller interview Wednesday. ‘I have no doubt about it. And I've seen it, I've had friends talk about it when people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It's really a disgrace what's going on.’” [CNN, 11/15/18]
Trump Claimed That People Opposed To Strict Voter ID Laws “Tend To Cheat.” According to Newsweek, “President Donald Trump said on Friday that he rejected the idea of mail-in voting and endorsed the concept of Voter ID, which he referred to as ‘the real deal.’ ‘I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,’ Trump said at Friday’s coronavirus task force meeting from the White House. ‘I think people should vote with Voter ID. I think Voter ID is very important, and the reason they don’t want Voter ID is because they tend to cheat.’ Voter ID laws have been the subject of controversy in the past, with the ACLU calling the concept ‘discriminatory’ against minority voters.” [Newsweek, 4/30/20]
The ACLU’s Voting Rights Project Reported That Voter Identification Requirements Disproportionately Impacted People Of Color, Young People, The Elderly, And The Poor. According to ABC News, “The American Civil Liberties Union says voter ID laws became more popular following the election of President Obama and place the biggest burden on people of color, the poor and the young. ‘From our perspective there was an explosion of restrictive requirements, voter ID being the one that has been the one that has most obviously been pushed ... in the wake of the election of President Obama in 2008,’ said Sophia Lakin, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s voting rights project. ‘These types of requirements, these document requirements, they have a disproportionate burden on people of color, the elderly the poor the young and voters with disabilities,’ Lakin said. ‘It is interesting that the voters effected by voter ID requirements and similar things we were seeing... had a disproportionate impact on voters who also turned out in unprecedented numbers in the 2008 election.’” [ABC News, 8/4/18]
Trump Pressured Congressional Republicans To Shut Down The Government If The SAVE Act Was Not Included. According to NBC News, “Donald Trump is pressuring Republicans to shut down the government at the end of this month if Congress doesn’t pass a GOP-backed proposal to establish new election rules nationwide. Trump has called on Republicans in Congress to link funding the government with the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote — in a bid to target non-citizen voting, which is already illegal. And House Republican leaders are considering adopting the strategy and picking a fight with Democrats. The deadline to fund the government is Sept. 30. The GOP-led House and Democratic-led Senate have to agree on how to move forward in order to prevent a shutdown, and Democrats have decried the SAVE Act as a poison pill. ‘I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it,’ Trump said on the ‘Monica Crowley Show’ last week.” [NBC News, 9/4/24]
Trump Said The Government Should Shut Down If The SAVE Act Did Not Pass, Despite Claims Of Non-Citizens Voting En Masse Being Debunked. According to Rolling Stone, “Packaging the two pieces of legislation together is a doomed endeavor. Still, Republicans in control of the lower chamber, led by Johnson, are taking their marching orders from former President Donald Trump, who is demanding the government be shut down if the SAVE act doesn’t pass. ‘If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,’ Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social. ‘Democrats are registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak – They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election, and they shouldn’t be allowed to,’ Trump claimed. ‘Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any Election!’ There is no evidence that voters are registering illegally en masse ahead of November’s election. Laws in all 50 states prohibit non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and only a small number of municipalities allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. The claim pushed by Trump and other Republicans that non-citizen voting is a widespread problem that is affecting election outcomes has been repeatedly debunked by reputable research firms and election monitors.” [Rolling Stone, 9/18/24]
The SAVE Act Was Another Voter Intimidation Tactic Meant To Decrease Turnout Among Voters Of Color. According to the Leadership Conference On Civil And Human Rights, “The SAVE Act is both unnecessary and dangerous. Our electoral system already deploys processes to ensure that our elections are secure and that only eligible voters are participating in our democracy. Voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering to vote. […] Introduction and advancement of this bill is the most recent example of what has been a string of recent efforts to make voter registration and voting more difficult, particularly for voters of color. False claims of non-citizen voting have been disingenuously used to enact more onerous voter identification requirements, limitations on voter assistance in languages other than English, and attempts to spread misinformation about voting. This legislation seeks to intimidate members of immigrant communities and communities of color from exercising their lawful right to vote. It also would make it harder for voters of color and naturalized citizens to register to vote and would prevent their full participation in democracy. These are already communities who are unfairly targeted by anti-immigrant policies at the federal, state, and local level. Congress should be doing everything possible to encourage and promote the political participation of these citizens, rather than seeking to diminish it through threats and fear tactics.” [Leadership Conference On Civil And Human Rights, 7/9/24]
January 2017: Trump Falsely Claimed 3 To 5 Million Illegal Votes Cost Him The 2016 Popular Vote. According to the Washington Post, “Days after being sworn in, President Trump insisted to congressional leaders invited to a reception at the White House that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of illegal votes, according to people familiar with the meeting. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, even while he clinched the presidency with an electoral college victory. Two people familiar with the meeting said Trump spent about 10 minutes at the start of the bipartisan gathering rehashing the campaign. He also told them that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused him to lose the popular vote.”[Washington Post, 1/23/17]
Maine Secretary Of State Matthew Dunlap, A Former Member Of Trump’s Voter Fraud Commission, Alleged The Intended Purpose Of The Commission’s Study Was To Support Trump’s Claims Of Widespread Voter Fraud. According to NBC News, “President Donald Trump’s dismantled voter fraud commission uncovered no evidence to prove his claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, according to an analysis of administration documents by a former member. ‘That the Commission predicted it would find widespread evidence of fraud actually reveals a troubling bias,’ Maine’s Secretary of State and former commission member, Matthew Dunlap, stated in a letter issued Friday. In the letter addressed to Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Dunlap, a Democrat, wrote that he joined the commission in ‘good faith’ and with ‘optimism,’ but that his experience with the bipartisan group left him skeptical of the intention of the study. ‘Unfortunately, my experience on the Commission quickly caused me concern that its purpose was not to pursue the truth but rather to provide an official imprimatur of legitimacy on the President Trump’s assertions that millions of illegal votes were cast during the 2016 election and to pave the way for policy changes designed to undermine the right to vote,’ Dunlap said in the letter.” [NBC News, 8/5/18]
May 2017: Trump Selected Kobach To Lead The White House Commission On Voter Fraud. According to McClatchy DC, “Kris Kobach, who as Kansas secretary of state repeatedly made unsubstantiated voter-fraud allegations, will co-chair President Donald Trump’s new Commission on Election Integrity, igniting outrage from civil rights groups and top Democrats. Critics ridiculed the very creation of the commission Thursday, as well as Kobach’s role, saying it’s all intended to perpetuate the president’s false claim that millions voted illegally in November. The 12-member bipartisan commission will review claims of improper registrations and voting, fraudulent registrations and voter suppression, White House officials told McClatchy. Members will provide the president with a report in 2018 and may issue recommendations to the states.”[McClatchy DC, 5/11/17]
Kobach Built His Career On Claims Of Voter Fraud. According to ProPublica, “For Kobach, the trial should’ve been a moment of glory. He’s been arguing for a decade that voter fraud is a national calamity. Much of his career has been built on this issue, along with his fervent opposition to illegal immigration. (His claim is that unlawful immigrants are precisely the ones voting illegally.) Kobach, who also co-chaired the Trump administration’s short-lived commission on voter fraud, is perhaps the individual most identified with the cause of sniffing out and eradicating phony voter registration. He’s got a gilded resume, with degrees from Harvard University, Yale Law School and the University of Oxford, and is seen as both the intellect behind the cause and its prime advocate. Kobach has written voter laws in other jurisdictions and defended them in court. If anybody ever had time to marshal facts and arguments before a trial, it was Kobach.” [ProPublica, 6/19/18]
After Kobach Shared Alleged Commission Findings On Voter Fraud, Former Members Challenged Findings Of The Commission Claiming They Had Not Seen The Evidence Supporting Kobach’s Claims. According to PBS, “Kobach said there have been more than 1,000 convictions for voter fraud since 2000, and that the commission presented 8,400 instances of double voting in the 2016 election in 20 states. ‘Had the commission done the same analysis of all 50 states, the number would have been exponentially higher,’ Kobach said. In response, Dunlap said those figures were never brought before the commission, and that Kobach hasn’t presented any evidence for his claims of double voting. He said the commission was presented with a report claiming over 1,000 convictions for various forms of voter misconduct since 1948.” [PBS, 8/3/18]
Trump Disbanded His Voter Fraud Commission Due to Infighting And Pushback From States Refusing To Adhere To Administration Demands For Excessive Individual Voter Information. According to the Associated Press, “President Donald Trump is disbanding his controversial voter fraud commission amid infighting, lawsuits and state officials’ refusal to cooperate. On Twitter early Thursday he said states that wouldn’t cooperate must know they have people voting illegally. Trump convened the commission to investigate the 2016 presidential election, after alleging repeatedly and without evidence that voting fraud cost him the popular vote. Trump won the Electoral College. The White House blamed the decision to end the panel on more than a dozen states that have refused to comply with the commission’s demand for reams of personal voter data, including names, partial Social Security numbers, voting histories and party affiliations. Trump said in tweets early Thursday that the states, mostly Democratic leaning, ‘fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally,’ he tweeted. ‘As Americans, you need identification, sometimes in a very strong and accurate form, for almost everything you do.....except when it comes to the most important thing, VOTING for the people that run your country.’ White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday: that Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the commission ‘rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense.” [Associated Press, 1/4/18]
June 2018: Kobach Was Lead Counsel For Kansas To Defend 2013 Voter ID Law He Had Signed As Governor; He Lost The Case. According to ProPublica, “In the end, the decision seemed inevitable. After a seven-day trial in Kansas City federal court in March, in which Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach needed to be tutored on basic trial procedure by the judge and was found in contempt for his ‘willful failure’ to obey a ruling, even he knew his chances were slim. Kobach told The Kansas City Star at the time that he expected the judge would rule against him (though he expressed optimism in his chances on appeal). Sure enough, yesterday federal Judge Julie Robinson overturned the law that Kobach was defending as lead counsel for the state, dealing him an unalloyed defeat. The statute, championed by Kobach and signed into law in 2013, required Kansans to present proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, contending that the law violated the National Voter Registration Act (AKA the “motor voter” law), which was designed to make it easy to register.” [ProPublica, 6/19/18]
The Court Found There Was “No Credible Evidence That A Substantial Number Of Noncitizens Registered To Vote.” According to ProPublica, “The trial had a significance that extends far beyond the Jayhawk state. One of the fundamental questions in the debate over alleged voter fraud — whether a substantial number of non-citizens are in fact registering to vote — was one of two issues to be determined in the Kansas proceedings. (The second was whether there was a less burdensome solution than what Kansas had adopted.) That made the trial a telling opportunity to remove the voter fraud claims from the charged, and largely proof-free, realms of political campaigns and cable news shoutfests and examine them under the exacting strictures of the rules of evidence. That’s precisely what occurred and according to Robinson, an appointee of George W. Bush, the proof that voter fraud is widespread was utterly lacking. As the judge put it, ‘the court finds no credible evidence that a substantial number of noncitizens registered to vote’ even under the previous law, which Kobach had claimed was weak.” [ProPublica, 6/19/18]
Kobach Was Required To Complete A Legal Course On Civil Trials Including One Section On Ethics. According to the Associated Press, “Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has told a federal judge he’s completed extra legal education that she required of him as a sanction in a voting rights lawsuit. Kobach filed documents Friday in federal court showing he finished a six-hour course called ‘Civil Trial: Everything You Need to Know’ on Jan. 4. The course included one hour on ethics. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ordered the extra education last year over what she concluded were violations of disclosure-of-evidence rules. Kobach had until June 30 to complete it.” [Associated Press, 1/18/19]
Kobach Falsely Claimed That The Folder Of Materials For Trump Meeting Were Not Relevant To The Voter ID Lawsuit. According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, “The issue emerged amid a lawsuit filed by the ACLU regarding proof-of-citizenship requirements Kansas adopted for people registering to vote. In that case, ACLU lawyers sought review of Kobach's binder of information carried into the Trump meeting in November 2016. An outward-facing page of that folder was photographed by reporters, but the full contents were unknown. Kobach, who is campaigning for the GOP nomination for governor, said the packet didn't contain information relevant to the lawsuit, but the magistrate judge said otherwise after reviewing the documents in private. The magistrate judge's ruling was upheld by U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson, who said Kobach's misleading statements ‘called his credibility into question.’” [Topeka Capital-Journal, 6/8/18]
October 2018: Trump Endorsed Mark Harris For The 9th Congressional District Of North Carolina. According to the Charlotte Business Journal, “President Donald Trump delivered a 75-minute speech on Friday night to a near-capacity crowd at Bojangles’ Coliseum, where he spent most of his time touting his record while occasionally urging support for Republican congressional candidates Ted Budd and Mark Harris. This was Trump’s second visit to Charlotte in two months — a sign of how tight the midterm U.S. House races are for Budd, the incumbent in the 13th District, and Harris, a former pastor here who defeated three-term 9th District incumbent Robert Pittenger in the primary.” [Charlotte Business Journal, 10/27/18]
Trump Endorsed And Hosted Multiple Rallies For Harris’s Campaign. According to the New Yorker, “Although gerrymandering hand kept the Ninth District in Republican hands for nearly two generations, analysts speculated that not even the multiple rallies that President Donald Trump held for Harris’s campaign could stop the ‘blue wave.’” [New Yorker, 8/24/19]
December 2018: The North Carolina State Board Of Elections Refused To Certify The Election In The Face Of Allegations Of Absentee Ballot Tampering. According to Vox, “North Carolina election officials have declined to certify the winner of the state’s Ninth Congressional District election, after allegations were made suggesting absentee ballots may have been tampered with. Elections officials and Democrats have been careful not to allege any specific wrongdoing so far. But the allegations suggest some kind of scheme, undertaken by people supporting the GOP campaign, to influence the results of an election ultimately decided by less than 1,000 votes. According to the votes as currently counted, Republican Mark Harris beat Democrat Dan McCready by a little more than 900 votes to become the next Congress member from the Ninth. But earlier this week, the state board of elections unanimously agreed it would not certify the election results, making vague references to “unfortunate activities” that raised doubts about their veracity.” [Vox, 12/4/18]
December 31, 2018: Despite Trump’s Fixation On Voter Fraud Conspiracy Theories, Trump Encouraged Harris To “Stand And Fight” Against Allegations Of Election Fraud. According to Think Progress, “Despite making numerous baseless claims about voter fraud over the years, President Donald Trump has remained silent on the contested congressional race in North Carolina’s 9th district, where allegations of election fraud centering around a Republican operative have prevented the state from certifying results. But Mark Harris — the Republican candidate who was thought to have won a narrow victory over Democrat Dan McCready before his campaign’s connections to Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. came to light — revealed on Tuesday that Trump has encouraged him to ‘stand and fight.’” [Think Progress, 1/8/19]
The NC State Board Of Elections Heard Four Days Of Witness Testimony Of A Scheme By Leslie McCrae Dowless Who Was Hired By Harris’ Campaign To Pay Workers To Harvest Absentee Ballots In Rural North Carolina. According to The Hill, “The vote capped off four days of witness testimonies detailing an alleged scheme by Leslie McCrae Dowless, a political operative hired by Harris’s campaign, to pay workers to collect absentee ballots from voters in rural Bladen County. Under North Carolina state law, only a voter or a close relative can turn in or mail an absentee ballot.” [The Hill, 2/21/19]
Harris’ Son Testified That He Had Told His Father In 2017 That He Suspected Dowless’ Operation Was Illegal. According to The Hill, “Harris’s son, John Harris, also testified in the hearing on Wednesday that he told his father in 2017 he suspected that Dowless’s absentee ballot work may have been unlawful. Despite those warnings, the elder Harris directed Dowless’s hiring. “I thought what he was doing was illegal, and I was right,” John Harris told the elections board on Wednesday.” [The Hill, 2/21/19]
February 21, 2019: The NC State Board Of Elections Voted To Hold A New Election Just After Harris Called For A New Election. According to The Hill, “The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously Thursday to call a new election in the state’s 9th Congressional District after days of hearing evidence of alleged ballot fraud. The decision came after Republican Mark Harris, one of the candidates in the race, expressed support for a new election, saying that allegations of a ballot-tampering scheme marred the current results.” [The Hill, 2/21/19]
February 22, 2019: Trump Would Not Condemn The Election Fraud In North Carolina. According to Politico, “President Donald Trump on Friday declined to condemn the strong evidence of mass election fraud in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, instead pointing to other questionable examples of voter fraud. One day after the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously to order a new election, Trump deflected when asked about his relative silence on the disputed race.” [Politico, 2/22/19]
July, 2019: Dowless Was Charged With Two Counts Of Obstruction, Perjury, Solicitation, Conspiracy, And Illegal Possession Of Ballots. According to NPR, “Prosecutors in North Carolina filed new felony charges against a Republican political operative accused of ballot tampering in a congressional election in 2018. Leslie McCrae Dowless was charged Tuesday with two counts of felony obstruction of justice, perjury, solicitation to commit perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice and illegal possession of absentee ballots, according to a statement by Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.” [NPR, 7/30/19]
Dowless Passed Away Before The Case Went To Trial. According to the Associated Press, “Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., the key player in a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud probe that led to a do-over congressional election, has died. His daughter, Andrea Dowless Heverly, wrote that her father ‘passed away peacefully’ Sunday morning, according to a social media post. He had been diagnosed with an advanced form of lung cancer and died at his daughter’s home in Bladen County, his friend Jay DeLancy told The Associated Press in a brief interview. Dowless was in his mid-60s. The political operative was set to go on trial this summer on more than a dozen state criminal counts related to absentee ballot activities for the 2016 general election and the 2018 primary and general elections. A half-dozen others were also charged.” [Associated Press, 4/24/22]
Trump Filled Federal Courts With Judges With Records Of Enabling Voter Suppression. According to the Huffington Post, “Two and a half years into his presidency, Donald Trump has filled up federal courts at all levels with judges who have ‘appalling’ records of enabling voter suppression, and it’s part of a broader effort to weaken minorities’ voting rights nationwide, the NAACP charges in a new report. The report, Trump’s Judicial Playbook: Weaponizing The Bench To Suppress The Vote, looks at nine of Trump’s judicial nominees with glaring records on voting rights. The NAACP opposed all of them when they came up for Senate confirmation votes, but only one, Thomas Farr, who engaged in voter suppression, did not get confirmed.” [Huffington Post, 7/16/19]
Trump Nominated Controversial Lawyer Thomas Farr To Serve As A Federal Judge Despite His Past Defense Of Voting Laws A Court Had Ruled Were Designed To Disenfranchise Minority Voters. According to the Washington Post, “President Trump’s nominee to be a federal judge in North Carolina cleared a key hurdle Wednesday when the Senate voted narrowly to advance him toward confirmation amid a racially charged controversy over his record as a lawyer. But it was unclear whether Thomas Farr would have the necessary support to win confirmation. [...] Vice President Pence cast a tie-breaking vote to help Senate Republicans move Farr, who defended voting laws that a court ruled were designed to disenfranchise minority voters, to a final roll call expected later this week.” [Washington Post, 11/28/18]
Sen. Tim Scott Announced He Would Not Support Farr’s Confirmation To The Federal Judiciary Due To Farr’s Role In Voter Suppression Across Campaigns In The 80s and 90s. According to the Huffington Post, “Scott said in statement, first reported by The State, that a 1991 Justice Department memo leaked this week raised concerns for him over Farr’s role in a voter suppression scheme that took place during the 1984 and 1990 campaigns of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). Farr worked with Helms’ campaign at the time. ‘I am ready and willing to support strong candidates for our judicial vacancies that do not have lingering concerns about issues that could affect their decision-making process as a federal judge,’ Scott said in his statement. ‘This week, a Department of Justice memo written under President George H.W. Bush was released that shed new light on Mr. Farr’s activities. This, in turn, created more concerns. Weighing these important factors, this afternoon I concluded that I could not support Mr. Farr’s nomination.’” [Huffington Post, 11/29/18]
Farr Was Not Confirmed Due To Pushback From Dissenting GOP Senators Who Opposed His Discriminatory Record As A Lawyer. According to The New York Times, “Tim Scott of South Carolina, the lone black Republican senator, said on Thursday that he would oppose the judicial nomination of Thomas A. Farr, a lawyer who defended a North Carolina voter identification law and a partisan gerrymander that a federal court said was drafted to suppress black votes ‘with surgical precision.’ Mr. Scott will join Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, who has vowed to oppose every White House nominee unless the Senate votes on legislation to protect the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. With Democrats united against Mr. Farr, his nomination to a United States District Court appears doomed.” [New York Times, 11/29/18]
The Senate Confirmed Trump Nominee, Kyle Duncan, To The Federal Appeals Court Despite Objection From Democrats Regarding His Poor Record On Civil Rights. According to a press release obtained via Bloomberg Law, “The Senate narrowly confirmed President Donald Trump’s 15th federal appeals court nominee, Kyle Duncan, by a vote of 50-47 April 24. Duncan is the third conservative Trump nominee confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which encompasses Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The court now has 10 Republican-appointed judges and five Democratic-appointed judges. Duncan has litigated on the conservative side of some of the highest-profile legal controversies, including disputes over voter identification requirements, LGBT rights, and the Affordable Care Act. He faced fierce opposition leading up to the vote from Democrats and progressives who described him as an opponent of civil rights.” [Bloomberg Law, 4/24/18]
Duncan Appealed To The Supreme Court In Support Of Increased Voter Restrictions In North Carolina. According to the Huffington Post, “Kyle Duncan, now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, previously represented North Carolina in its defense of its sweeping voter suppression law that included a strict voter ID requirement, eliminated same-day voter registration and barred out-of-precinct voting. An appeals court struck down the law in 2016, ruling that it discriminated against black voters and ‘targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision.’ Duncan appealed the case to the Supreme Court, calling it ‘ludicrous’ to suggest the law echoed Jim Crow laws. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal.” [Huffington Post, 7/16/19]
February 2020: The Senate Confirmed Trump Nominee Brasher To An Appeals Court. According to a press release obtained via WHNT19, “The U.S. Senate confirmed U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Brasher Tuesday afternoon to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Senators voted along party lines to confirm Brasher in a 52-43 vote. Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby voted for Brasher’s confirmation. Democrat Sen. Doug Jones voted against. President Donald Trump nominated Brasher for the position in November, six months after he was appointed as a judge for the U.S. District Court for Middle Alabama.” [WHNT19, 2/11/20]
Brasher Filed A Brief In Support Of Gutting The Oversight Provisions Of The Voting Rights Act In Shelby v. Holder. According to the Huffington Post, “Andrew Brasher, now a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, previously filed a brief in the landmark Shelby County v. Holder case in 2013 that resulted in the Supreme Court gutting a core provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As Alabama’s solicitor general, he argued that Congress violated the Constitution by reauthorizing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Brasher also oversaw his office’s efforts to deny the Census Bureau the ability to count non-citizens as part of the census.” [Huffington Post, 7/16/19]
2019: The Senate Confirmed Eric Murphy To The Federal Court Of Appeals. According to Cleveland.com, “The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to confirm former Ohio Solicitor General Eric Murphy as a federal judge over objections from Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who objected to arguments Murphy made in Ohio cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Murphy, a former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, was confirmed in a 52 to 46 vote to fill the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vacancy created when Judge Alice Batchelder took senior status.” [Cleveland.com, 3/7/19]
Murphy Defended Ohio’s Voter Purge Laws Before The Supreme Court. According to the Huffington Post, “Eric Murphy, for one, is 39. Now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, he previously defended Ohio’s notorious voter purge law before the Supreme Court in 2018, arguing that the state should be able to drop people from its voter rolls if they don’t vote for six years and don’t respond to a postcard asking them to confirm their address.” [Huffington Post, 7/16/19]
The Senate Confirmed Cory Wilson As Trump’s 200th Judicial Nominee. According to Politico, “The Senate confirmed its 200th federal judge under President Donald Trump Wednesday, a key milestone in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s push to reshape the judiciary. In a 52-48 vote, the Senate approved Cory Wilson to the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.” [Politico, 6/24/20]
Wilson Authored An Op-Ed Dismissing The NAACP’s Concerns Over Voting Rights And Criticized The Obama Administration For Implementing Initiatives To Reduce Cases Of Voter Suppression, Like Voter ID Laws. According to the Huffington Post, “In a 2011 op-ed, Wilson dismissed the NAACP’s concerns about a proposed Mississippi voter ID law as ‘poppycock.’ He ripped the Justice Department in 2013 for sending election observers to the state, which has a long history of voter suppression and intimidation, and instead suggested federal officials go after incredibly rare cases of ‘voter fraud.’ He similarly dismissed the Obama administration’s concern about voter suppression in a 2012 op-ed: ‘The Rachel Maddows of the media world have joined the chorus of ‘voter suppression’ right on cue from Team Obama. This is as phony as the ‘war on women.’ Wilson has also described President Barack Obama as ‘King Barack,’ ‘petty and small’ and ‘a fit-throwing teenager.’ And when then-Attorney General Eric Holder discussed why he opposed voter ID laws in 2012, Wilson wrote in a 2013 op-ed, ‘Holder whined, like many liberals, that voter ID laws are part of an illegitimate, orchestrated effort by Republicans to suppress poor and minority voting.’” [Huffington Post, 6/11/20]
Trump Appointee To The 11th Circuit Lisa Branch Argued In A Dissenting Opinion That Voters Could Not Sue States To Enforce The Voting Rights Act. According to Slate, “On Monday, Judge Lisa Branch, a Donald Trump appointee to the 11th Circuit, penned a startling dissent launching a novel attack against the Voting Rights Act. The power of the Voting Rights Act hinges on individual voters’ ability to raise the alarm over racially discriminatory election laws. Voters do this by suing the state or locality that is disenfranchising them. But Branch argued that voters cannot sue states to enforce the VRA. Branch’s opinion is, for now, just a dissent. But there is a real possibility that the Supreme Court could transform it into the law of the land and render the landmark civil rights statute toothless.” [Slate, 2/4/20]
Trump Called Pennsylvania’s Move To Automatic Voter Registration “A Disaster For The Election Of Republicans, Including Your Favorite President, ME!” According to the Messenger, “Former President Donald Trump early Monday lashed out over Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's move to introduce automatic voter registration in the state, calling it a ‘disaster for the Election of Republicans.’ ‘Pennsylvania is at it again! The Radical Left Governor, Josh Shapiro, has just announced a switch to Automatic Voter Registration, a disaster for the Election of Republicans, including your favorite President, ME!’ Trump wrote in a post just after midnight on Truth Social. The 2024 GOP White House frontrunner said the move was a ‘totally Unconstitutional Act’ and called on Republican leadership in Washington and Pennsylvania to focus on stopping the move instead of focusing on future primary debates, taking the time to hit a few of his GOP rivals.” [Messenger, 9/25/23]
Trump Claimed That Obama’s 2012 Re-Election Was A “Total Sham” And That The U.S. Was No Longer A Democracy. According to ABC News, “On election night in 2012, when President Barack Obama was reelected, Trump said that the election was a ‘total sham’ and a ‘travesty,’ while also making the claim that the United States is ‘not a democracy’ after Obama secured his victory. Trump even wrote on Twitter, ‘We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!’ There was no truth to the claims that Obama's election victory against Sen. Mitt Romney was a ‘sham’ and the democratic process played out in 2012 as it is doing now and has with every election, as the votes are tabulated and certified by states and local officials.” [ABC News, 11/11/20]
Trump Claimed Ted Cruz “Illegally Stole” The Iowa Caucus During The 2016 Republican Presidential Primary. According to Politico, “After congratulating Cruz during his concession speech on Monday night, Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to make the case for why his loss was a crock. ‘Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he illegally stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong any [sic] why he got more votes than anticipated. Bad!’ Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. The tweet disappeared within minutes of posting and was replaced by with another that no longer included the word ‘illegally.’ He followed up with an ultimatum: ‘Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,’ he tweeted. Trump said later Wednesday that he’ll likely sue. ‘I probably will; what he did is unthinkable,’ he said during an interview with Boston Herald Radio.” [Politico, 2/3/16]
Trump Falsely Claimed 3 To 5 Million Illegal Votes Cost Him The 2016 Popular Vote. According to the Washington Post, “Days after being sworn in, President Trump insisted to congressional leaders invited to a reception at the White House that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of illegal votes, according to people familiar with the meeting. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, even while he clinched the presidency with an electoral college victory. Two people familiar with the meeting said Trump spent about 10 minutes at the start of the bipartisan gathering rehashing the campaign. He also told them that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused him to lose the popular vote.”[Washington Post, 1/23/17]
Trump: “You Mean They Are Just Now Finding Votes In Florida And Georgia – But The Election Was On Tuesday?” According to Trump on Twitter, “You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia – but the Election was on Tuesday? Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!” [Twitter.com, @realDonaldTrump, 11/9/18]
Trump: “They’re Finding Votes Out Of Nowhere […] I Think That People Have To Look At It Very, Very Cautiously.” According to NPR, “‘They’re finding votes out of nowhere, and Rick Scott who won by — it was close, but he won by a comfortable margin, he easily won but every hour it seems to be going down,’ Trump said outside the White House Friday. ‘I think that people have to look at it very, very cautiously.’” [NPR, 11/9/18]
Election Expert: Florida Election Officials Were “Literally Just Counting The Ballots. This Isn’t Corruption Or Fraud.” According to NPR, “In the case of Florida still counting ballots more than 48 hours after polls closed, David Becker, the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told NPR it is extremely common for a voting jurisdiction to be taking as long as Broward County is. ‘Election officials are literally just counting the ballots. This isn’t corruption or fraud,’ Becker said. ‘It is literally the best of democracy. Let election officials do their job and count the ballots.’” [NPR, 11/9/18]
Donald Trump: “You Mean They Are Just Now Finding Votes In Florida And Georgia – But The Election Was On Tuesday?” According to Trump on Twitter, “You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia – but the Election was on Tuesday? Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!” [Twitter.com, @realDonaldTrump, 11/9/18]
Abrams’ Campaign Wanted All Provisional And Absentee Ballots Be Counted Before Conceding While Kemp’s Campaign Claimed She Was “Trying To Create New Votes.” According to NPR, “‘Abrams campaign is trying to create new votes, because they know it’s their only remaining hope,’ said Ryan Mahoney, the Kemp campaign’s communications director, in the statement. But Abrams’ campaign maintains it just wants all provisional and absentee ballots to be counted before she decides to concede. The Associated Press has not called the race, and votes have continued to be counted this week.” [NPR, 11/9/18]
Trump On Arizona: “Electoral Corruption - Call For A New Election?” According to tweetTrump on Twitter, “Just out — in Arizona, SIGNATURES DON’T MATCH. Electoral corruption - Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy!” [Twitter.com, @realDonaldTrump, 11/9/18]
Trump Did Not Provide Evidence Of “Electoral Corruption” In Arizona. According to AZ Central, “Trump did not offer any evidence for his claim of ‘electoral corruption.’” [AZ Central, 11/9/18]
Trump Tweeted As Sinema Took Lead In Senate Election And County GOP Groups Went To Court Over The Ballot Counts. According to AZ Central, “With Arizona’s U.S. Senate race at stake, President Donald Trump raised the prospect of a ‘new Election’ as well as ‘electoral corruption.’ Trump’s tweet came as his candidate, Republican hopeful Martha McSally, lagged behind Democratic hopeful Kyrsten Sinema, and as local GOP groups were headed to court over election-related practices in Maricopa County and Pima County, where McSally was at a disadvantage.” [AZ Central, 11/9/18]
Trump: “58,000 Non-Citizens Voted In Texas, With 95,000 Non-Citizens Registered To Vote. These Numbers Are Just The Tip Of The Iceberg.” According to Trump on Twitter, “58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas, with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID! @foxandfriends”’ [Twitter.com, @realDonaldTrump, 1/27/19]
The Numbers Tweeted By Trump Referred To A Fox News Segment That Did Not Report The Full Context. According to NBC News, “‘These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg,’ Trump wrote on Twitter. ’All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID!’ The tweet followed a segment on ‘Fox and Friends’ about a report from Texas election officials on potential non-citizens who were registered to vote. But the show’s claims, and Trump’s, do not accurately reflect the findings announced by Texas authorities on Friday, and other news outlets also failed to report the full context of the immigrant voting situation in the state.” [NBC News, 1/27/19]
Trump Falsely Claimed That He Had Actually Won The Election And That There Was Widespread Voter Fraud. According to ABC News, “After his defeat by Joe Biden, his claims became more frequent, with Trump swiftly leveling vocal yet baseless allegations in the early hours after Election Day. In a speech at the White House, he appeared particularly focused on ballots that were counted late into the evening, even though votes being counted late into the night is typical. ‘This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,’ he said, adding, ‘We want all voting to stop.’ On Nov. 7, 2020, as news organizations correctly projected that Biden had defeated him, Trump tweeted the opposite: ‘I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!’ he claimed. In a statement, he vowed that ‘this election is far from over’ and promised to pursue legal challenges.” [ABC News, 9/8/22]
Trump Suggested That Mass Voter Fraud Was Occurring In The 2022 Midterms. According to CNN, “Trump, who has repeatedly and falsely alleged that there was mass voter fraud in the 2020 election, baselessly suggested on social media on Tuesday that such fraud might be happening in the 2022 midterms. ‘Same thing is happening with Voter Fraud as happened in 2020???’ the former president wrote Tuesday afternoon on his Truth Social platform. There was no evidence of widespread or outcome-changing voter fraud in the 2020 election, and there was no early sign on Tuesday of any significant voter fraud in the 2022 midterms. Voter fraud typically represents a tiny fraction of ballots cast in US elections.” [CNN, 11/9/22]
Trump Falsely Claimed That “Large Numbers” Of Voters In Detroit Were Being Told They Had Already Voted And Turned Away At Polling Stations. According to CNN, “Trump urged followers to ‘protest,’ and the GOP nominee for Michigan secretary of state falsely claimed ‘fraud’ was to blame for what officials called a ‘harmless data error’ in Detroit. By the time Trump weighed in, the Michigan Department of State had already addressed what happened at select polling places in Detroit and said a resolution had been identified. That fix was sent to precincts by 11 a.m. Even when the situation was still being reviewed, ‘voters were always able to vote,’ Michigan Department of State spokesperson Jake Rollow told reporters Tuesday. ‘At no point was any, was there any inability to process a voter who showed up,’ he said. [...] And Trump falsely said on his Truth Social account, ‘the Absentee Ballot situation in Detroit is REALLY BAD. People are showing up to Vote only to be told, ‘sorry, you have already voted.’ This is happening in large numbers, elsewhere as well. Protest, Protest, Protest!’” [CNN, 11/9/22]
January 2024: Trump’s Campaign Accused DeSantis Of “Trying To Rig” The Iowa Caucus. According to Rolling Stone, “No one is safe from former President Donald Trump’s accusations of election fraud, not even his fellow Republicans — specifically Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. While Trump’s baseless accusations of election fraud tend to focus on President Joe Biden, ahead of the anniversary of Jan. 6 Trump’s campaign mailed out flyers accusing DeSantis of “trying to rig the Iowa Caucus,’ which is set to take place on Jan. 15. NBC News confirmed the mailer’s authenticity and its connection to the Trump campaign.” [Rolling Stone, 1/5/24]
January 2024: Trump Complained About Potential Voter Fraud After Winning The New Hampshire Primary. According to the Associated Press, “After he won the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday night, former President Donald Trump complained about his main GOP rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, about immigration, inflation, and his likely opponent in November, President Joe Biden. One thing he didn’t complain about: Voter fraud in the election he had just won. That continues a pattern for Trump as he steamrolls through the GOP presidential primary and toward an increasingly likely November rematch with Biden. While Trump generally refrains from claiming voter fraud in elections he wins, he spends plenty of time laying the groundwork to cry fraud should he lose an upcoming vote. He’s already been doing that with an eye toward November’s general election. ‘They used COVID to cheat. And they did a lot of other things, too. We’re not going to let that happen,’ Trump said of Democrats in his Tuesday night speech to supporters in New Hampshire. ‘You can never forget history, because if you forget, you never, you never recover from it. And you repeat.’” [Associated Press, 1/24/24]