Fact-checking Trump’s latest claims about mail ballots and voting machines

This article was originally published by Votebeat a nonprofit news organization covering local voting administration and voting access President Donald Trump returned to social media Monday with another barrage of unsubstantiated statements about the integrity of elections following a meeting in which Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly claimed that U S elections were rigged because of mail in voting Seizing on that assertion despite there being no credible evidence to sponsorship it Trump promised on Truth Social to lead a movement to phase out mail in ballots and voting machines and promote watermark paper He suggested he would implement these changes with an executive order ahead of the midterms The post contains multiple other false misleading or unsubstantiated statements about the use of mail ballots including indicates Trump and his allies have made before even as more Republican administrators have tried to encourage voting by mail His suggests notwithstanding courts have repeatedly rejected accusations of widespread fraud tied to mail ballots and various democracies around the world use them And under the Constitution he has no explicit authority over the time place and manner of elections Experts say that an executive order like the one Trump describes in his post would be forthwith challenged in court and unlikely to take effect Beyond that any major change to voting by mail before the midterms would be a logistical nightmare for referendum administrators and it would disproportionately affect voters who rely on it greater part including overseas arrangement members veterans and people with disabilities Here s a fact check of several of the key contends in his post What Trump declared States are merely an agent for the Federal Regime in counting and tabulating the votes They must do what the Federal Executive as represented by the President of the United States tells them Fact Trump s claim that states are merely an agent of the federal regime in elections is false and contrary to decades of Republican orthodoxy on this point The Constitution gives power to Congress and the states not the president to the states to regulate the time manner and place of elections Meanwhile Republicans for decades have framed states rights as a fundamental principle This stretches back to Barry Goldwater in the s through Ronald Reagan s emphasis on federalism and into up-to-date decades where GOP leaders have framed decentralization of power as protection against big regime Voting has been a primary example for that very point For example after the contentious presidential electoral process Republicans fiercely defended Florida s right to set its own recount rules GOP leaders and state attorneys general argued in the Supreme Court scenario Shelby County v Holder that federal oversight of state ballot laws was unconstitutional Over the last decade Republicans in Congress have opposed Democratic efforts to pass federal voting-rights regulation like the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act arguing they represented federal takeovers of elections Then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in called the rule a one-size-fits-all partisan rewrite by one side here in Washington In when Democrats proposed federal requirements to expand mail voting due to COVID- Republicans fought them off And when Trump floated the idea of delaying the November ballot Republican senators like McConnell Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio reminded him that Congress and the states control poll timing and procedures What Trump mentioned We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED Fact Several democracies use mail voting including Germany Switzerland Canada and Australia Chosen use it more extensively than the U S No country has given it up because of widespread fraud Fraud is rare in countries that use vote by mail as it is here Germany has been using vote by mail since the s in its federal vote about half of German voters cast their ballots through the mail In Switzerland nearly all voters receive their ballots by mail and more than of voters return them in the same way The United Kingdom allows any voters to request a mailed ballot and about of voters take advantage of the guidelines The vast majority of European countries allow at least particular form of mail voting especially for citizens living abroad or for those with disabilities What Trump commented Voting machines are Highly Inaccurate Very Expensive and Seriously Controversial and cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper which is faster and leaves NO DOUBT at the end of the evening as to who WON and who LOST the Electoral contest Fact Paper ballots still have to be counted either by hand which is slow and error-prone or by machine That s why nearly every state that uses paper ballots still relies on scanners to tally them fast and accurately Existing federal law also requires the use of at least one voting machine in every single precinct in the country for use by voters who have disabilities that make casting a paper ballot tough Trump cannot invalidate federal law through an executive order so voting machines aren t going anywhere Watermarks are not a standard or proven safeguard though selected states do have them or something like them The places that use them still use machines to count these ballots What Trump reported Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this fully disproven Mail-In SCAM ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS VOTING and everybody IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS KNOWS THIS Fact There is no evidence that one party cheats with mail ballots Voting by mail is used by Republicans and Democrats alike and in jurisdictions led by Republicans and Democrats In fact Republican voters are often more likely to use mail voting especially in states like Arizona and Florida where Republicans championed the practice until in recent months In fact there s no evidence that vote by mail benefits either party over the other multiple academic studies have reached this conclusion What Trump commented ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS VOTING Fact Mail in voting has consistently been shown to operate extremely securely due to robust safeguards In states like Pennsylvania counties that offer ballot curing the ability to correct errors like missing signatures document significantly lower rejection rates demonstrating that the system isn t rigged but rather is responsive and adaptable Votebeat s coverage highlights what research studies have shown repeatedly Instances of fraud in mail-in voting remain exceedingly rare Even when ballots get rejected that s typically due to procedural mistakes not attempts at manipulation or deceit Referendum administrators across the country work under strict bipartisan protocols including signature checks and secure handling procedures to protect integrity Courts and polling bureaucrats routinely affirm the reliability of mail ballots when these protocols are followed In both routine practice and under close scrutiny mail-in voting stands out as both secure and trustworthy What Trump revealed I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the Midterm Elections Fact Courts have ruled that Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally change federal vote rules as they consider several lawsuits challenging his March executive order In halting chosen provisions of that executive order for example a federal judge in the U S District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in April that our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States not the President with the authority to regulate federal elections That ruling blocked Trump s direction to the U S Poll Assistance Commission to take initiatives to require voters to prove citizenship when registering to vote A federal judge in Massachusetts later blocked the same provision of the order writing that Trump exceeded his authority That judge also blocked parts of the order telling the U S Justice Department to enforce a ballot receipt deadline of Voting Day Nothing stops Trump from leading an informal movement however He s arguably been doing that for years already and while it has had particular impact on guidelines voters haven t really changed their habits much Jen Fifield contributed reporting Jessica Huseman is Votebeat s editorial director and is based in Dallas Contact Jessica at jhuseman votebeat org Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and voting administration across the U S Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get the latest The post Fact-checking Trump s latest insists about mail ballots and voting machines appeared first on MinnPost