Donald Trump Encourages Supporters to Vote Twice In North Carolina, Which Is A Felony

KEY POINTS

Donald Trump has encouraged his supporters in North Carolina to test the system by voting twice, once by mail and once in person
Voting multiple times is a felony in North Carolina, as is inducing others to do so
Election officials have said that each person will only be counted once

Despite being a vocal critic of voter fraud, President Trump on Wednesday urged supporters in North Carolina to vote twice, which is a felony.

During an interview with WECT-TV, an NBC affiliate in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump said voters should "send it in and let them go vote. And if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote."

In North Carolina, it is a felony both to vote twice and to encourage others to do so.

North Carolina, which has 15 electoral votes, is considered a crucial swing state. Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads Trump by two points in a recent Monmouth University poll.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnaney said that he was being misconstrued, saying in an interview with Fox News that “the president is not suggesting that anyone do anything unlawful, what he said very clearly right there is "make sure your vote is tabulated, and if it is not, then vote.'"

McEnaney then lashed out at Democrats, saying “what Democrats are saying is, ‘we want a system full of fraud’... we know that hundreds of thousands of ballots were not counted in 2016.”

However, Trump clarified on Twitter that he was in fact instructing his supporters to attempt to vote twice and rely on the system to stop them if it had already been counted. “Go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail-In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted). If it has you will not be able to Vote.”

.....go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted). If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly. If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen’s right to do). If your Mail In Ballot arrives....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2020

Facebook said that they would remove the footage of Trump encouraging voter fraud. His posts on Twitter doing so have been hidden under their rules surrounding "civic and election integrity."

Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for North Carolina’s State Board of Elections, said in an interview with Reuters that even if voters voted twice only one would be counted.

“Voting twice in an election is a felony. If you put a ballot in the mail, and it hasn’t arrived yet, and then you vote in person before your absentee ballot has arrived, your in-person vote will count," he said.