Dem
47
GOP
53
As we discussed Friday, Donald Trump's speech on Thursday was designed to sow doubts about elections, so he can claim any Democrat winning anywhere "won" due to fraud. It is an all-purpose, one-size-fits-all excuse for Republicans losing elections. Now it looks like this is not going to be a one-man show.
At a news conference Friday, Secretary of DHS Markwayne Mullin seconded the motion and threatened election officials with prison time if they didn't cough up records Trump wants—and has no legal basis for demanding. Mullin claimed—without any evidence—that there are 250,000 noncitizens on the voting rolls in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. No mention of Florida or Texas, which are often the first stops for undocumented immigrants from South America and Mexico, respectively. Mullin demanded the voter rolls so they can be checked against a half-baked database of citizens the feds have compiled. Anyone not in the database is thus presumed to be a noncitizen. Mullin threatened to—illegally—cancel federal grants to states that refuse to comply. The blue states aren't going to comply and Mullin probably knows that. It is all an elaborate bit of kabuki theater to convince voters that election results can't be trusted. That way, when Republicans lose their seats in November, Trump can maybe try to say that the elections were not valid and the current office holders can just keep their jobs.
According to elections expert Rick Hasen, if the feds had actual evidence of people voting illegally, they would be indicted instantly. The penalty for voting illegally is up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The lack of indictments means the feds have no specific evidence of anyone voting illegally. Also, Trump has fired dozens of cybersecurity officials. If he were truly worried about election integrity, he would not have fired any of them. Instead he would have hired more.
Mullin also said: "We're trying to make sure that American people can trust our voting system." This is ironic in the extreme, since what he is actually trying to do is foment distrust in the voting system. (V)