Will Coronavirus Pandemic Lead To Vote Fraud? Former FEC Chair Takes On Trump Claims

Federal Elections Commissioner Ellen Weintraub accused President Trump on Thursday of trying to undermine faith in U.S. elections by alleging mail-in voting leads to vote fraud, saying the allegation has “no basis in fact.”

Weintraub, a former FEC chairwoman, unleashed a more than 65-tweet thread in the wake of Trump’s threats to withhold federal funding from states that ease restrictions on absentee ballots amid voter fears of entering polling places without an end to the coronavirus pandemic, which as of noon Thursday had killed more than 100,600 Americans.

“There's simply no basis for the conspiracy theory that voting by mail causes fraud. None," Weintraub said, citing fact-checks by various media outlets as well as studies that have indicated states that conduct their elections through the mail have not encountered widespread problems.

She said Trump is “dead wrong,” “crying wolf,” and spreading “false” claims and a “debunked lie.”

But Trump doubled down Thursday.

All 50 states offer the absentee ballot option although, until now, mostly limited it to those who can prove they would be unable to vote on Election Day. Five states, however, conduct all their elections by mail, and at least 21 others conduct at least some elections that way.

The Brennan Center for Justice calls allegations of widespread vote fraud “spurious,” saying vote-by-mail will be necessary to keep voters healthy this year.

“Trump’s claims are wrong, and if used to prevent states from taking the steps needed to ensure public safety during November’s election, they will be deadly wrong. Mail ballot fraud is incredibly rare, and legitimate security concerns can be easily addressed,” Wendy Weiser and Harold Ekeh wrote in a Brennan Center blog post last month.

Weintraub called on Trump to “speak truth,” saying Americans “deserve nothing less than the truth from our leaders.”

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially fraudulent or massively corrupt due to a ballot theft free-for-all,” Weintraub tweeted, as she cited all of Trump’s pet fears.

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially fraudulent or massively corrupt due to a ballot theft free-for-all.

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially fraudulent or massively corrupt to a forgery free-for-all.

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially corrupt due to a cheating free-for-all.

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially fraudulent or massively corrupt due to voters being told for whom to vote.

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially fraudulent or massively corrupt due to fraudulently signed ballots.

“There is no basis for the claim that the election will be substantially fraudulent or massively corrupt due to illegal ballot printing.”

Weintraub noted 139 million people voted in the 2016 general election, 33 million by absentee ballot, and neither Democrats nor Republicans “can find any evidence of rampant voter fraud either historically or particularly in the 2016 elections.” In 2016, there were just four documented cases of vote fraud.

In addition, the number of Americans voting absentee is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. A recent Stanford University study found mail-in voting had no impact on the average turnout for either Republicans or Democrats and did not increase vote share for either political party.

“Our paper has a clear takeaway: Claims that vote-by-mail fundamentally advantages one party over the other appear overblown,” the researchers said.