Trump raises concerns over fraud claims in Pennsylvania

Former President Trump is sowing doubt about Pennsylvania’s election results less than a week before Election Day by making explosive and misleading claims about fraud in the commonwealth.

The former president’s rhetoric comes amid critics’ concerns that he is laying the groundwork for the election results to be undermined or challenged if he loses. Trump spread false claims of widespread voter fraud following his 2020 election loss, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“This rhetoric is disturbing, but it does not mean that Pennsylvanians should worry that their votes will be at risk,” said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice.

“Voters can vote with confidence that their ballot will be received and deemed cast, and at this point the noise is attempts to shake people’s faith or stoke post-election challenges, whether routine or inappropriate,” Weiser said.

While Trump and his team have raised concerns about vote collection and counting in other battlegrounds, Pennsylvania is widely seen as the most important battleground state, and in 2020 it took several days for officials there to declare a winner.

“Pennsylvania is cheating and getting caught on a scale rarely seen before. REPORT FRAUD TO AUTHORITIES. Law enforcement must act NOW!” Trump posted the news on Tru Social on Wednesday.

A day earlier, at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Trump highlighted reports of potentially fraudulent voter registration forms returned in Lancaster and York counties, although he misrepresented the nature of the problem.

“They have already started cheating in Lancaster. They cheated. We caught them with 2,600 votes. No, we caught them cold,” Trump said.

Officials in Lancaster County announced last week that they were checking about 2,500 voter registration forms for potential fraud. However, there was no falsification of ballots and there was no indication that the registration forms were an indication of wider fraud, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer..

York Daily Record reported last week that York County, Pennsylvania also received a series of registration forms from a third party and were reviewing the documents for any evidence of fraud.

Later in his Tuesday remarks, Trump talked about wanting some to vote on Election Day “where they can see how voting actually happens in this beautiful, often corrupt machine.”

Trump and his allies spent the weeks after the 2020 election spreading claims that some voting machines were rigged. Fox News finally achieved almost $800 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, one of the voting machine companies that was the subject of conspiracy theories in 2020 over false claims about the machines.

On Wednesday, Trump campaign officials filed a lawsuit in Bucks County, just outside Philadelphia, to extend in-person voting amid concerns about long lines and allegations that some voters were disenfranchised. Later that day, a judge there extended the deadline for voters to request an absentee ballot.

Bucks County sought to dispel doubts about the vote post on social media platform X.

“Contrary to what is being portrayed on social media, if you are in line to request an absentee ballot by request by 5 p.m., you will have the opportunity to request an absentee ballot,” the district wrote. .

“We are aware that due to miscommunications, individuals lining up to request an absentee ballot upon request were briefly informed that they could not be accommodated,” the county added. “In fact, these voters had the opportunity to request absentee ballots today.”

Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt provided a virtual update Wednesday in which he acknowledged that “there has been a lot of misinformation and disinformation about Pennsylvania’s elections and this is likely to continue in the coming days and weeks.”

Schmidt said election officials across the commonwealth will verify that every person who has registered to vote is eligible; that each person who requested an absentee ballot provided appropriate proof of identification to receive it; that those who returned absentee ballots are registered voters who followed the instructions; and that election officials will ensure that only registered voters can cast ballots on Election Day.

“It is very important that voters receive information from trusted sources at this point in the election cycle,” Schmidt said. “Spreading videos and other information without context, sharing social media posts containing half-truths and even outright lies, is harmful to our representative democracy.”

The Trump campaign has has committed significant resources on election integrity efforts following the 2020 election, filing dozens of lawsuits in several battleground states, focusing on proof of citizenship requirements and mail-in voting deadlines. Democrats challenged state election officials who expanded their roles.

“This is not election denial. This is not a conspiracy theory. These are basic protections that have broad support among 70, 80, even 90 percent of all American voters, including Republicans, independents and Democrats,” Republican National Committee co-chairman Michael Whatley said Wednesday on a call with reporters.

Last week, Vice President Harris was asked in an interview on NBC News about the prospect of Trump declaring victory on election night, before all the votes have been counted and the result is clear.

Harris, the Democratic nominee, said that “of course” her campaign was prepared for such a possibility.

“This is an individual, Donald Trump, who attempted to thwart a free and fair election, who continues to deny the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol and attack 140 law enforcement officers,” he added. Harris said. “This is serious.”

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