Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Nationwide Committee are amplifying voter fraud claims in a number of key Pennsylvania counties per week earlier than Election Day, Nov. 5.
“They’ve already began dishonest,” Trump informed his viewers in Allentown, Pa. Tuesday evening.
Trump has additionally stoked fears on social media.
“Actually unhealthy ‘stuff.’ WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA??? Regulation Enforcement should do their job, instantly!!! WOW!!!” Trump wrote on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
The state has requested for endurance as investigations into hundreds of doubtless fraudulent voter registration purposes filed in Lancaster and presumably different counties proceed.
Signal-up for Your Vote: Textual content with the USA TODAY elections group.
At a press conference Friday, Lancaster County officers announced that over half of about 2,500 voter registrations obtained in two batches near the deadline gave the impression to be fraudulent. Election officers recognized suspicious purposes as a result of that they had the identical handwriting, signatures for voters that didn’t match what was on file or they contained inaccurate addresses or Social Safety numbers. The county believes that the submissions got here from a single voter registration group.
Berks and York County officers have additionally mentioned they’re reviewing a big batch of voter registration and mail poll purposes.
Trump and members of his marketing campaign have additionally shared a number of social media movies from Pennsylvania in latest days whereas alleging issues with native election administration.
In a press convention Wednesday, Secretary of Pennsylvania Al Schmidt, a Republican, urged voters to make sure they’re getting info from trusted sources.
“We all know there’s already loads of mis- and disinformation about Pennsylvania’s elections, and it is prone to proceed within the coming days and weeks forward,” Schmidt mentioned. “Over the previous 24 hours, we have seen a number of movies shared broadly on-line that lacked correct context or had been inaccurate, resulting in false narratives… Spreading movies and different info that lack context, sharing social posts crammed with half truths and even outright lies, is dangerous to our consultant democracy.”
A viral video spreading on-line that seems to indicate mail ballots being destroyed in Bucks County has been flagged by federal legislation enforcement as a hoax.
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The japanese Pennsylvania counties on the heart of Trump and the RNC’s claims are among the many key swing counties anticipated to find out which presidential candidate wins the state. Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, probably the most of any swing state, and polls present it tied between Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
In 2020, Trump relied largely on Texas v. Pennsylvania, which was drafted by attorneys with ties to his marketing campaign, to overturn the leads to his favor. The lawsuit alleged that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin violated the US Structure by altering election procedures by means of non-legislative means. The Supreme Court docket refused to listen to it. The Washington Post also reported that Trump pressured Pennsylvania Speaker of the Home Bryan Cutler to overturn the outcome and use electors loyal to Trump, however Cutler declined.
“The Trump marketing campaign appears to be setting the stage for a repeat of 2020,” Penn State Behrend affiliate political science professor Robert Speel informed USA TODAY. “If the Electoral Faculty is determined by Kamala Harris profitable Pennsylvania, I feel the Trump marketing campaign is laying some groundwork to query the outcomes from Pennsylvania.”
Mail-in ballots
Republican Nationwide Committee Chairman Michael Whatley informed a cheering crowdat that very same Trump marketing campaign rally in Allentown that the occasion was submitting “an enormous lawsuit” in opposition to Bucks County, Pa.
Pennsylvania doesn’t have early voting in the best way many states do. As an alternative, voters can apply for a mail-in poll in-person on the elections workplace, obtain it after which flip it in all in the identical journey. The time intensive course of has led to hours-long strains, particularly as Trump has pushed Republicans to vote early.
Bucks County Republicans made claims on-line of voter intimidation, disenfranchisement attributable to long lines on the last day voters had been capable of request mail-in ballots, which was Tuesday, Oct. 29. One social media publish from Trump marketing campaign political director James Blair mentioned a line in a single space was shut down early round 2:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the Bucks County Widespread Pleas Court docket discovered that Bucks County violated the state Election Code when it turned away voters who had been in line and prolonged the deadline to use in individual within the county till 5 p.m. Friday.
The swing county backed Biden in 2020 and Clinton in 2016 by small margins and has gone to a Democrat in each presidential election since 1992.
Neighboring Lehigh County on Tuesday asked a judge to extend the deadline there by means of Wednesday, as a result of a number of downtown Allentown roads closed for Trump’s rally blocked entry to the elections workplace. The choose agreed.
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Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Schmidt had informed counties to permit each voter who was in line by the 5 p.m. deadline to submit a mail-in poll software. Bucks County had mentioned Tuesday that each voter in line by 5 p.m. can be allowed to use for a mail poll.
However some Bucks County voters in line at 5 p.m. had been turned away, in response to the lawsuit.
Pennsylvania voters can flip in mail-in ballots in individual or at drop-boxes till 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Voter suppression claims
The Trump marketing campaign and RNC has additionally seized on the arrest Tuesday of Valerie Biancaniello, a Republican state committeewoman and RNC delegate, at a Delaware County, Pa. polling location.
Whatley shared a video of the woman in handcuffs on X, previously referred to as Twitter, saying that “a supporter of President Trump’s was arrested at the moment for encouraging individuals to remain within the early voting line and forged their ballots freely in Pennsylvania.”
“That is voter suppression from the left. Don’t allow them to flip you away,” he wrote.
A Delaware County spokesperson didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Jim Allen, the Director of Elections in Delaware County, told local affiliate NBC10 that different individuals in line had been complaining about her habits, together with that she was telling individuals who to vote for.
“Park Police approached the individual, requested them to observe the principles or depart and so they mentioned they weren’t going to go away and so they weren’t going to cease so that they had been charged with disorderly conduct,” Allen mentioned.
Biancaniello mentioned on social media that she was briefly detained and was informed she will likely be issued a disorderly conduct quotation.
