By Joseph Tanfani and Andrew Goudsward
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – False claims about voter fraud in Pennsylvania have raised concerns that former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump may once again seek to overturn the vote there or in other battleground states likely to determine the winner next Tuesday.
Opinion polls, both nationally and in the seven closely divided states, show Trump locked in a tight race with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris with four days to go before Election Day.
Trump continues to falsely claim his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud in multiple states that Trump lost, while he and his supporters have spread baseless claims about this election in Pennsylvania.
Similar rhetoric about voter fraud after the 2020 vote led to a violent mob of Trump supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to halt or sway the congressional count of the electoral votes that determine who becomes president.
“This is sowing the seeds for attempts to overturn an election result that cuts against Donald Trump,” said Kyle Miller, a Pennsylvania policy strategist for the advocacy group Protect Democracy. “We saw it in 2020 and I think the lesson Trump and his allies have learned since is that they have to sow these ideas early.”
Trump on Thursday stepped up his unfounded allegations that probes into suspect voter registration forms are proof of voter fraud. Some of his supporters alleged voter suppression when long lines formed this week to receive mail-in ballots.
State officials and democracy advocates said the incidents show a system working as intended. A judge extended the mail-in ballot deadline by three days in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, after the former U.S. president’s campaign sued over claims that some voters were turned away before a Tuesday deadline.
Election officials discovered potentially fraudulent registrations in Lancaster and neighboring York counties, prompting investigations by local law enforcement. There is no evidence the applications have led or will lead to illegal votes.
“This is a sign that the built-in safeguards in our voter registration process are working,” Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s top elections official, told reporters this week.
PREPARING TO BLAME A LOSS ON FRAUD
Trump tells his rallies to expect a big victory on Tuesday, saying he could only envision losing “if it was a corrupt election.”
Trump’s claims have raised concerns that he is preparing to again blame a potential loss in Pennsylvania, the largest of the seven states likely to decide the result of the election, on voter fraud.
In a social media post on Thursday, he said: “We caught them CHEATING BIG in Pennsylvania” and demanded criminal prosecutions.
A senior Harris campaign official on Thursday said Trump’s claims were an example of the former president trying to “sow doubt in our elections and institutions when he’s afraid he can’t win.”
Should Trump win the vote fairly, all the talk of fraud may dissipate quickly.
But the United States’ unique method of choosing a president, rooted in the 1789 Constitution, provides openings for Trump and his supporters to seek to undermine or delay election results at the local, state and national level.
In 2020, the Trump team attempted 60 court cases alleging fraud in multiple states, all without success. But the experience has prepared lawyers from both parties for another attempt, each side sharpening their knowledge of election law.
Should Trump followers overturn or delay any unfavorable state results long enough through the courts or legislative obstruction, they could prevent a duly elected Harris from taking office and tilt the result to Trump.
Some U.S. states are warning county and local officials not to intervene illegally or refuse to certify results.
But the final arbiter in such a case would be the nine-member U.S. Supreme Court.
With six conservative justices, three of them appointed by Trump, the court has already granted the former president a victory in his bid to seek criminal immunity from acts committed as president.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Don Durfee and Lincoln Feast.)
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