justinspoliticalcorner:
Donald Trump again raised the specter of election fraud Friday, saying that the only way he would lose Pennsylvania is to Hillary Clinton is if “they cheat.”
The Republican nominee, speaking at a rally in Altoona, Pennsylvania, repeated his concerns about the fairness of the election.
“The only way we can lose, in my opinion — I really mean this, Pennsylvania is if cheating goes on and we have to call up law enforcement and we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everyone watching because if we get cheated out of this election, if we get cheated out of a win in Pennsylvania, which is such a vital state especially when I know what is happening here,” he said. “She can’t beat what’s happening here. The only way they can beat it in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, if in certain sections of the state they cheat.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed the election is “rigged” against him, laying some of the blame on the media.
Trump is trailing Clinton by more than 9 points in Pennsylvania polls, one of several key battleground states in which he has slumped recently.
h/t: Tyler Pager at Politico
Okay, dashboard, this is not a “reblog me or be shamed” post, but I would really like you to please pay attention to this for a moment, because this is the only, singular post about this I’ve seen and I had to hunt it down in the tags myself on mobile-
Donald Trump has just called for his voters to harass people going into the polls.
No, seriously, look at his exact words here - “We’re going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times.”
Did you know that Pennsylvania is an ex-voter ID state? The same voter ID laws Trump alludes to here? Did you know that approximately 9% of the PA electorate was estimated to be disenfranchised by those laws? Did you know that Hillary is heading Trump in PA by about 10%? Did you know that during voter ID law times, many states had an issue with ‘concerned citizens’ like True the Vote harassing people outside the polls demanding to see their IDs? Because that’s exactly what Trump is talking about here.
Voter fraud is vanishingly rare. It is virtually statistically impossible for it to affect the outcome of an election without being caught - thousands of cases would have to occur for even close elections, let alone ones where Trump is trailing by 10 points. This is not some legitimate concern - it’s a thinly veiled excuse to harass voters in ‘some areas’ - e.g., areas that are more likely to vote Democrat - e.g., heavily Black and Latino areas. (Potentially college campuses as well, though that’s a bit dicier because a lot of campuses will have their own polling station with campus security who tend not to fuck around.)
So guys, please be aware - no one can prevent you from entering a polling place. No one has the right to demand your ID, or any identifying information. The poll workers are exclusively inside. If you see anyone committing voter harassment like this, please call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
