Unsubstantiated Republican Claims of Voter Fraud
Top Dems Demand Proof.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Robert A. Brady, Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, and Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn are sending letters to the 102 chief election officials and attorneys general in all 50 states and the District of Columbia requesting all cases in which their offices have determined that an individual who cast a vote in the November election was prohibited from doing so.
“President Trump wants a major investigation of voter fraud — well now he has one,” said Cummings. “He continues to be obsessed with false numbers and statistics, but these are not ‘alternative facts,’ and there is no evidence to support these claims. What is a fact is that Republicans in statehouses across America have passed restrictive laws that impair the ability of legitimate voters to participate, and they use the myth of voter fraud to justify their abuses. We should be expanding the ability of legitimate voters to exercise their rights — not degrading them.”
“President Trump’s outrageous claim that millions of people have voted illegally is unconscionably dangerous to the future of our democracy. He has no proof for his assertions but eligible voters all across the country will suffer as a result. His comments denigrate the memory of those fought and died to secure the franchise for future generations,” Brady said.
“Republicans have used claims of widespread voter fraud to discriminate and restrict access to the ballot box for years,” Clyburn said. “President Trump’s bizarre obsession with disputing his massive popular vote loss only further undermines American democracy. This investigation seeks to determine whether there is any basis in fact for those claims.”
This morning, President Trump tweeted: “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”
His tweet follows reports that he stated during a meeting with congressional leaders on Monday that “millions of unauthorized immigrants had robbed him of a popular vote majority.”
After being pressed by members of the White House press corps yesterday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended the President’s claim, stating: “He believes what he believes based on the information he was provided.”
He added: “The president does believe that, he has stated that before. I think he’s stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and he continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have presented to him.”
Spicer went on to cite a study “that came out of Pew in 2008 that showed 14% of people who have voted are non-citizens.” That claim itself has also been thoroughly debunked by the Washington Post, PolitiFact, and NPR.
In November, weeks after winning the election, President Trump tweeted: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
When pressed by George Stephanopoulos to explain the tweet, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway said: “To your question, the president-elect has been talking to different people, including Kris Kobach of Kansas, about voting irregularities or the number of illegal votes that may have been cast, and I believe that he based his information on that.”
Kobach served as secretary of state of Kansas, and in June 2016, Cummings, Brady and Clyburn launched an investigation into an Election Assistance Commission action to amend the federal voter registration form to require proof of citizenship in Alabama, Georgia, and Kansas. In September, a federal judge blocked the action after finding that it would disenfranchise legitimate voters.
