Election Challenges, Protests, Conspiracy Theories, and Moral Panics

[GMDino]

Trump has 'em right where he wants 'em!

Congratulations to @JamesOKeefeIII on exposing more Democrat voter fraud. @DNC was caught red handed telling people to vote twice.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2012

 



Wait....


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/trump-people-vote-twice.html

Quote:Trump Encourages People in North Carolina to Vote Twice, Which Is Illegal
The president’s suggestion, which he framed as a way to test the security of elections systems, constituted the kind of voter fraud he has railed against.


President Trump on Wednesday suggested that people in North Carolina stress-test the security of their elections systems by voting twice — an act that constitutes the kind of voter fraud the president has railed against.


Mr. Trump made the comment in a briefing with reporters, where he was asked about his faith in the state’s system for voting by mail, which is expected to be more expansive in the 2020 presidential election than in previous years because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.


Mr. Trump encouraged people to send in an absentee ballot and then go vote in person on Election Day.


“Let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote,” the president said. “If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote.”

“That’s the way it is,” he added. “And that’s what they should do.”



Voting twice in the same election is illegal.


But Mr. Trump’s suggestion that people should vote twice is one he has discussed privately with aides in recent weeks amid concerns he is depressing turnout among his supporters by raising alarms about the security of mail-in voting.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-tells-supporters-vote-twice-ensure-their-precious-vote-has-n1239194

Quote:Trump has frequently criticized mail-in voting as rife with fraud, an argument that not only lacks evidence but also is at odds with his campaign's attempt to get his supporters to cast their ballots by mail. Democrats have been pushing to expand access to mail-in voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which they say is necessary to ensure safety.


In a series of posts Thursday on Twitter, Trump appeared to encourage all of his supporters to test the system by mailing in ballots and then visiting polling places.


Trump called on supporters to return their ballots "as EARLY as possible."


Then, he said, "on Election Day, or Early Voting, go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted)."


He said that if voters are told that their ballots had already been tabulated, "you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly."


But if voters are told that their ballots had not been counted, they should vote in person at their polling places, he said. Trump argued that if voters cast two ballots, election officials will not count the mailed-in ballots.


"YOU ARE NOW ASSURED THAT YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE HAS BEEN COUNTED, it hasn't been 'lost, thrown out, or in any way destroyed,'" he wrote on Twitter.


Trump's statements appear to ignore the complexity of the laws governing the voting process. Each state has its own laws dictating how elections should be conducted, when absentee votes are tabulated and how officials verify that someone is not trying to vote twice.


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In a number of states, officials do not begin to count mail-in ballots until Election Day or in the days that immediately precede it, although lawmakers in some states are trying to adjust those timelines. In some states, officials would not be able to verify whether mail-in ballots had been tabulated. Many states offer voters the ability to track their mail-in-ballots online.


Both Twitter and Facebook slapped warning labels on the posts, which were cross-posted to each platform, Thursday afternoon.