Trump’s Repeated False Attacks on Mail-In Ballots
In the past 48 hours, President Donald Trump repeatedly has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses, claiming that mail-in voting is a “disaster” and “out of control” and suggesting without evidence that Democrats are going to steal the election.
The president repeatedly sows doubt about mail-in voting, echoing what intelligence officials have said is a Russian strategy to undermine public trust in the election.
At a Sept. 23 press briefing, the president said “we’re going to have to see what happens,” when he was asked if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “Get rid of the ballots,” he said, and there would be a “very peaceful … continuation” of power.
“The ballots are out of control,” he said of mail-in ballots. “You know it. And you know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats know it better than anybody else.” He doubled down the next day, saying mail-in ballots are “a whole big scam” when asked if he would only accept the election results if he wins.
“We want to make sure the election is honest, and I’m not sure that it can be,” he told reporters on Sept. 24. “I don’t know that it can be with this whole situation — unsolicited ballots. They’re unsolicited; millions being sent to everybody. And we’ll see.”
We have been tracking the president’s remarks about mail-in voting. In late July, we wrote a story — “The President’s Trumped-Up Claims of Voter Fraud” — recapping his numerous false, misleading and unsupported claims to date about mail-in ballots. At the time, Trump had suggested the 2020 election should be postponed, claiming mail-in voting this year will result in the “most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.”
Since then, the president has ramped up his attacks on mail-in voting on a near-daily basis. His attacks come despite a U.S. intelligence bulletin issued to law enforcement agencies on Sept. 3 warning that Russia wants “to undermine public trust in the electoral process” by “amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail,” as first reported by ABC News.
At a Sept. 17 hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray that “the steady drumbeat of misinformation … will contribute over time to a lack of confidence of American voters and citizens
