California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back on President Trump’s assertions that vote-by-mail elections lead to widespread voter fraud.
“There’s been study after study — don’t take my word for it, don’t take the president’s — study after study that just lays claim to no evidence whatsoever that there’s widespread voter fraud,” Newsom said Wednesday on NBC’s Today show. “We want to prepare to keep people safe and allow them to have their constitutional rights protected, constitutional right to vote, without putting their health at risk.”
Trump has criticized mail-in ballots, which Democratic governors have sought to use during the coronavirus pandemic to adhere to social distancing practices.
Last week, Trump falsely accused election officials in states such as Michigan and Nevada of sending out unsolicited ballots to residents. The president said that if vote by mail becomes the norm across the country, Republicans would “never” win another election.
On Tuesday, Twitter issued a fact check to a pair of Trump tweets about voter fraud in California.
“There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” Trump said in the tweets deemed to be “unsubstantiated.” “Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!”
Trump responded to the fact-check alert by accusing the social media company of an attempt at “interfering” in the 2020 election. On Wednesday, he threatened to regulate or even “close down” social media companies that he and his supporters say censor or silence conservative viewpoints.
