Trump
Tells NC Residents to Vote Twice, Openly Encouraging Voter Fraud
It is a felony under North Carolina law to vote more than once
or "induce" others to do so, but that didn't stop President Donald
Trump from openly encouraging residents of the state to attempt to cast two
ballots in the November election in an interview with a local reporter
Wednesday.
They are going to have to check their vote by going to the poll
and voting that way because if it tabulates, then they won't be able to do
that," Trump said, apparently urging residents to test
their state's mail-in voting system.
"So let them send it in, and let them go vote. And if their system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote [on Election Day]. If it isn't tabulated, they will be able to vote. So that's the way it is, and that's what they should do."
"So let them send it in, and let them go vote. And if their system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote [on Election Day]. If it isn't tabulated, they will be able to vote. So that's the way it is, and that's what they should do."
"I'm not happy about it," Trump said of
expansions of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic. "At the same
time, we're in court with a lot of it. We're going to see if it can be stopped.
But send your ballots, send them in strong, whether it's solicited or
unsolicited. The absentees are fine. But go to vote and if they haven't counted
it, you can vote. That's the way I view it."
"The president just committed a felony," Marc Elias,
an attorney and voting rights advocate, tweeted in response to Trump's
remarks, which come after the president spent weeks fearmongering over
virtually nonexistent voter fraud in what critics dubbed a blatant effort to
preemptively cast doubt on the results of the November election.
Under election law in North Carolina, where
an estimated 600,000 voters have requested absentee ballots for November, it is
illegal for "any person with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote
at more than one precinct or more than one time, or to induce another to do so,
in the same primary or election, or to vote illegally at any primary or
election."
"So he's trying to make his conspiracy theories about voter
fraud come true even if it means urging his supporters to commit a
felony?" asked Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi
(D-Ill.) following the president's comments.
Sean Eldridge, founder and president of advocacy group Stand Up
America, tweeted late Wednesday that "voter fraud is nearly
nonexistent."
"And the only one encouraging it is Donald Trump,"
Eldridge added, "in a desperate attempt to create chaos and sow
doubt."
Pressed
late Wednesday to respond to Donald Trump's remarks encouraging North Carolina residents
to try to cast two ballots in the November election, Attorney General William
Barr—the top law enforcement official in the U.S.—repeatedly claimed to not
know whether it's illegal to vote twice.
And Barr
is clueless about legality of voting twice
 |
| Leading Constitutional scholar Lawrence Tribe, Harvard comments |
"I
don't know what the law in the particular state says," Barr said in
a CNN appearance when host Wolf Blitzer told the attorney
general that it is, in fact, illegal to vote twice.
"Well,
I don't know what the law in the particular state says," Barr repeated.
Democratic
lawmakers and other critics quickly slammed Barr for what they characterized as
feigned ignorance in defense of Trump's open encouragement of voter fraud. In
an interview with a North Carolina reporter Wednesday, Trump said residents of
the state should attempt to vote by mail and in person to test the
ballot-counting system.
If
the mail-in ballot "isn't tabulated," the president said, "they
will be able to vote [in person]. So that's the way it is, and that's what they
should do." Under North Carolina law, it is a felony to vote twice or
"induce" others to do so.
In
response to Barr's remarks Wednesday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) pointed to
federal law, tweeting: "As the attorney general,
you are expected not to be an idiot when it comes to basic legal principles.
Federal law prohibits voting more than once in the same election. 52 U.S. Code
§ 10307."
Rep.
Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive
Caucus, said "Barr once again made clear
today that he is not serving as the attorney general for the American
people."
"He
is serving as the personal henchman for Donald Trump," Jayapal added.
During
the same CNN appearance Wednesday, Barr floated the claim that
new expansions of mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic leave "open
the possibility" that either someone in the United States or a foreign
nation could counterfeit ballots. Asked to provide evidence for that claim,
Barr said he is basing it on "logic."
"The
president's chief propagandist is still at it," tweeted Walter Shaub, former director
of the Office of Government Ethics.