Fox News host Tucker Carlson repeated President Trump’s claim that vote-by-mail systems lead to an increased chance of voter fraud.
“Harvesters can go to people’s homes — and they do in California. … They pressure them to vote or to vote the right way, or they help a person read through a ballot while nudging them on who to vote for,” Carlson claimed on his nightly program Tuesday. “We’re not saying that all of these methods of fraud are equally likely … but the point is this: Universal mail-in voting with ballot harvesting massively expands the potential for voter fraud.”
Carlson’s comments came just hours after Trump suggested in a series of tweets that Democrats were actively trying to make voter fraud easier by expanding vote by mail systems.
“There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” the president wrote. “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!”
Twitter, in an unprecedented move, slapped the tweets with a “get the facts” note at the bottom and linked to several news reports refuting the president’s claim. Trump responded by accusing the social media company of trying to meddle in the 2020 election and threatened to “shut them down.”
Carlson, a frequent critic of America’s largest tech companies, said the move is akin to a violation of the First Amendment.
“I don’t care what Twitter tells you. That’s true. It’s obvious. And by the way, it’s been documented. … It’s not a theoretical risk. Actual voter fraud has happened despite what they tell you all over the country,” he said.
