Posted on 05/28/2020 9:00:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Donald Trump has had a problematic week on Twitter, engaging in political combat with foils like MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has inspired a backlash beyond any he’s faced before as president.
Part of the reaction was Twitter’s decision to stick a “fact check” label on two of Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots. This decision, in turn sparked its own backlash around issues of freedom of expression and political bias. (Will President Stacey Abrams ever get a tweet fact-checked by Twitter? Probably not.)
Overlooked in the social media scrum over Trump’s tweets, however, is the one issue most relevant to voters in New Hampshire: Donald Trump is right about mail-in ballots.
Mostly.
First, the tweets:
Per usual with President Trump, there’s a lot he gets wrong. Is it true that California is “sending Ballots to…anyone living in the state?” No. They are sending ballots to “all registered voters.”
But that’s where Trump’s concerns about mail-in ballots are on target.
Concerns about mail-in voting and fraud aren’t new.
A bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker declared, “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
In the 2018 midterms, a congressional election in North Carolina was overturned and had to be re-held because an unscrupulous Republican operative was using mail-in ballots to scam the system.
And the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) just released data that more than 28 million ballots by mail went unaccounted for from 2012 to 2018, with more than one million going to the incorrect address in 2018 alone.
“Absentee ballot fraud is the most common, the most expensive to investigate, and it can never be reversed after an election,” said the organization’s president J. Christian Adams.
“The status quo was already bad for mail balloting. The proposed emergency fix is worse.”
More recently, “in a Supreme Court contest in Wisconsin in April, about 1,600 ballots were discovered the morning after Election Day in a mail processing facility in Chicago — 1,600 voters whose ballots did not count,” The Hill reports. “Hundreds more who applied for absentee ballots did not receive them in time, according to a report by the state Board of Elections.”
And literally the same day President Trump tweeted that mail-in ballots “would be forged,” the Department of Justice announced a mail carrier in West Virginia was being charged with attempted election fraud by committing forgery on mail-in ballots.
Does this mean mail-in ballot fraud is widespread? A threat to democracy? Not necessarily.
But it does prove that Trump’s point — mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud — is indisputably true. And for obvious reasons: New Hampshire’s polling places and handling of ballots there is entirely secure.
Which is why the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s efforts on behalf of mail-in voting, online voter registration (also fraught with opportunities for fraud) and other changes to the election system inspire such little passion from voters. Granite Staters tell pollsters they support “no-excuse absentee ballots” (aka “vote by mail,”), but the state has the third-highest turnout in the nation using traditional, and secure, voting practices. New Hampshire voters turn out at higher rates than states that have implemented more expansive mail-in voting.
Still, Democrats press on. Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas voted to have the federal government take control of New Hampshire elections and force the state to use mail-in voting, not just as part of a COVID-19 election solution in 2020, but permanently.
As for the impact of mass mailings of ballots to last-known addresses, read this first-person story of mail-in ballot “fraud.”
Twitter’s decision to fact-check politicians’ tweets is problematic enough. They probably should have waited for a Trump tweet that actually got the facts wrong.
If history is any guide, they wouldn’t have to wait long.
* * *
Don;t take our word for it... here's none other than Jerry Nadler explaining: "Paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud...I can show you experience which would make your head spin."
Jerry Nadler in 2004: “Paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud...I can show you experience which would make your head spin.” pic.twitter.com/L7zJhoB3O8 — Danny De Urbina (@dannydeurbina) May 25, 2020
The greatest potential for fraud is the motor-voter law in several states. It effectively removes any way of establishing citizenship, and invites illegals to vote with impunity. That and ballot harvesting are clear and present dangers already responsible for some invalid elections.
“Per usual with President Trump, there’s a lot he gets wrong. Is it true that California is “sending Ballots to…anyone living in the state?” No. They are sending ballots to “all registered voters.””
So, just registered voters AND people with Drivers licenses...including illegals?
Doesn’t CA have a motor voter law?
I think a lot of the President’s “mistakes” are geared to getting his opponents to “correct” him by pointing out exactly what you pointed out. You are spot on. If the Democrats agree that it’s only true that anyone with a driver’s license can vote (i.e. “Trump is wrong”) then they are admitting that voter fraud is super easy.
Follow the lead of Texas with limited mail-in voting.
Voters over 65.
Voters who are disabled.
Voters who are out of the county during the voting period.
Voters who are incarcerated but otherwise eligible to vote.
Somehow I think the incarcerated who are not eligible to vote, but have been RELEASED to Covidiate the population, will be well-facilitated to vote.
NY CA are states where once you pass your driving license you are registered to vote. Before you take your test you are not asked if you are a citizen thus illegals take a test, get a license and then will get a mail in in order to vote.
Hey twitter check your facts.
How absurd that this is even being seriously discussed!
This is like pondering whether mayonnaise should be refrigerated, or whether you should drive around on a flat tire, or whether you should spill gasoline all over your foot while filling your car.
Of course mail-in voting is less secure! Of course it will lead to more voter fraud!
That’s exactly why the Democrats want to do it.
This should be easy.
We have states with almost all of their voting conducted by mail. We know from the President that means there has been substantial fraud in each of their recent elections.
Let's take Utah or Washington as an example and reveal all of that fraud.
Simple.
Yea he loves to bait these clowns there are probably hundreds of examples right now.
Twitter being the latest..
why does NO ONE talk about the sanctity of elections and how destruction of this with No-ID voting, walk-up registration, early voting, mail-in voting are all rapidly destroying trust in government and democracy?
After the fact, fraud is extremely hard to detect and prove. Voter ID is necessary. Screaming from Democrats about this is enough to prove massive fraud.
No. They are sending ballots to “all registered voters
Now that’s funny for facts note post #14
Here in Pennsylvania we will be having an election where people can request mail in ballots. If you are “registered” with the county, then a ballot will be issued to you at the address on file.
I happen to have 4 adult sons and an elderly mother that NEVER ever vote. I will submitting a registration on their behalf and requesting that ballots be returned to my address. When the ballots come in, all I have to do is fill them out and send them back.
Now how the hell will anyone know that those ballots were processed by someone else? They will appear to be perfectly legal votes. See how easy it is to cheat?
What if those ballots never get delivered by the post man? What if the ballots get lost in the mail? What if the ballots get delivered to the wrong address?
Mail in ballots = FRAUD!
If PA is like most states they verify the signatures against those on file from when the voter registered.
See how easy it is to cheat?
Sure, I guess if you're willing to forge a couple of signatures well enough to fool the checkers and risk a felony criminal conviction all for 2 extra votes you could do it.
Jerry Nadler in 2004: ‘Paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud’
Send "Orange Man Bad" federal and state government Democrats and RINOs home in November!
Supporting PDJT with new patriot federal and state government leaders that will promise to fully support his already excellent work for MAGA and stopping SARS-CoV-2 will effectively give fast-working Trump a "third term" in office imo.
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