Trump has repeatedly leveled allegations of large-scale mail-in voter fraud as Democratic and Republican state elections officials have moved to expand the remote method of ballot-casting because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to widespread corruption at the polls, the president has also claimed that a shift toward mail-in voting would yield unfavorable electoral results for the Republican Party, despite conceding that even he voted by mail in Florida’s primary in March.
Although election experts acknowledge there are slightly higher levels of voter fraud perpetrated through mail-in voting than in-person voting, they agree overall cases of election fraud are exceedingly rare and that local officials can implement measures to thwart such activity. There is no evidence of the type of widespread voter fraud that Trump has alleged.
A study published last month found that, on the whole, voting by mail does not benefit one party over another. The latest, most high-profile example of mail-in voter fraud came in 2019, when an election for a North Carolina House seat was tossed out after a Republican operative illegally collected ballots.
Still, Trump’s accusations have heightened concerns among Democrats that he could refuse to leave office should Biden win in November or if the outcome were to remain inconclusive in the immediate aftermath of the election.
Biden revealed Wednesday he had acknowledged the possibility that Trump would not assent to a peaceful transition of power. But he suggested leaders within America’s armed forces — including former military officials who have criticized the president in recent weeks — would eventually force Trump from office.
“I was so damn proud. You have four [chairman of the Joint] Chiefs of Staff coming out and ripping the skin off of Trump, and you have so many rank-and-file military personnel saying, ‘Whoa, we’re not a military state. This is not who we are,’” Biden said. “I promise you, I’m absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, responding to Biden’s remarks Thursday, dismissed the notion that troops would be required to remove the president after the election, calling it a “ridiculous proposition.”
“This president’s looking forward to November. This president’s hard at work for the American people,” she told Fox News. “And leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories.”
Tim Murtaugh, communications director for Trump’s reelection campaign, also blasted Biden and said Trump “has been clear that he will accept the results of the 2020 election.”
“This is just another brainless conspiracy theory from Joe Biden as he continues to try to undermine confidence in our elections,” Murtaugh said in a statement.
Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/11/joe-biden-donald-trump-voting-access-312879
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