False claims about voter fraud in Pennsylvania have raised concerns that former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump could once again try to overturn the vote there or in other battleground states to determine the winner next Tuesday. .
Opinion polls nationally and in seven closely divided states show Trump is in a tight race with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris four days before Election Day.
Trump continues to make false claims that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud in several states where Trump lost, while he and his supporters have spread baseless claims about this election in Pennsylvania.
Similar rhetoric about voter fraud after the 2020 vote led to a violent mob of Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop or influence Congress’s count of electoral votes. Which determines who becomes president.
“This is sowing the seeds for efforts to overturn the election results that are against Donald Trump,” said Kyle Miller, Pennsylvania policy strategist for the advocacy group Protect Democracy. “We saw this in 2020 and I think the lesson that Trump and his allies have learned since then is that they have to sow these ideas early.”
Trump on Thursday advanced his baseless allegations that investigations into suspicious voter registration forms are evidence of voter fraud. Some of his supporters accused him of voter suppression when long lines formed this week to receive mail-in ballots.
State officials and democracy advocates said the incidents showed 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 US president’s campaign sued over claims that some voters were turned away before Tuesday’s deadline .
Election officials discovered potentially fraudulent registrations in Lancaster and neighboring York counties, prompting an investigation by local law enforcement. There is no evidence that the application has or will result in illegal votes.
“This is a sign that the safeguards built into our voter registration process are working,” Al Schmitt, Pennsylvania’s top elections official, told reporters this week.
Preparation to blame the loss on fraud
Trump expressed hope of a big victory at his rallies on Tuesday, saying that if this had been a corrupt election, he could only imagine defeat.
Trump’s claims have raised concerns that he is preparing to again blame voter fraud for a potential loss in Pennsylvania, the largest of the seven states that decide the outcome of the election.
In a social media post Thursday, he said, “We caught them committing major fraud in Pennsylvania” and called for criminal prosecution.
A senior Harris campaign official said Thursday that Trump’s claims are an example of the former president “trying to sow doubt about our elections and institutions when he fears he can’t win.”
Should Trump win the vote fairly, all talk of fraud could soon end.
But the United States’ unique method of electing a president, enshrined in the 1789 Constitution, provides Trump and his supporters the opportunity to undermine or delay election results at the local, state and national levels.
In 2020, the Trump team attempted 60 court cases alleging fraud in multiple states, but all without success. But the experience has prepared lawyers on both sides for another effort, with each side increasing their knowledge of election law.
If Trump followers should overturn or prolong any unfavorable state results through courts or legislative blockages, they could prevent the duly elected Harris from taking office and tilt the outcome toward Trump.
Some US states are warning county and local officials not to illegally interfere or refuse to certify the results.
But the final arbiter in such a case will be the nine-member US Supreme Court.
With six conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by Trump, the court has already given the former president a victory in his attempt to gain criminal immunity from acts he committed as president.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
