Andrea Wilkinson/ Nevada Sagebrush
Jack Rieger poses at the early voting station on Monday Oct. 31, after casting a ballot in this year’s election. Rieger enjoyed skipping the Election Day crowd by voting early.
With Election Day only a week away, Republican nominee Donald Trump’s claims that the election is rigged against him have taken center stage. To support his “rigged” election comments, Trump has made claims about dead Democratic voters taking part in the election, the media’s “refusal” to report on his inevitable victory and Republican leaders’ rejection of Trump’s candidacy.
These claims have resulted in public discussion and distrust in the electoral system, and several opinion polls suggest Trump’s comments about the election being rigged against him have resulted in a huge public distrust in the election process. According to a Reuters poll, over two-thirds of all registered Republican voters believe if Clinton wins the election, it means the election was rigged.
The Claims
According to Trump, if he loses the election, it will be due to illegitimate voters. Trump claims there are 1.8 million dead registered voters who will cast their ballots this election for Clinton.
“You have 1.8 million people who are dead, who are registered to vote and some of them absolutely vote. Now, tell me how they do that,” Trump said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
The Republican’s statistics come from a Pew Research Center report from 2012; however, the “zombie voter” claim has not spurred any official investigation or criminal prosecutions.
“It is legal to cast an early ballot and then die, but your grandma who has been dead for 20 years does not vote, and even if you somehow figured out a way to do that, that is one ballot and that is not going to matter,” said Kevin Banda, assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno. “It would have to happen systematically, and it would have to happen systematically in a lot of places.”
Trump also cited from the Pew Research report that 2.5 million people in the United States are registered to vote in two different states, claiming they all vote twice.
A former Pew official, David Becker, who co-authored the report Trump cited in his claims, said it does not make sense for a person to vote twice in an election with the lack of result the crime offers and the felony at stake if the voter were to be caught.
Trump has also blamed his usual victim for rigging the election: the media. He has said the “phony, disgusting, dishonest papers” are wrongly reporting him to be lagging behind Clinton in the polls.
The real estate mogul has consistently lagged behind his Democratic challenger throughout the last month, according to the Real Clear Politics average. However, the polls have tightened considerably in the past week or so, squeezing Clinton’s lead to three points on average, down from about seven.
Is it true?
Trump’s outcry may have shocked voters enough to have them questioning if this election could be rigged, hacked or taken over by fraudulent voters. However, according to several Republicans and Democrats, voters need not worry about voter fraud or election-rigging this election.
“You are much likelier to be struck by lightning than have somebody next to you commit voter fraud,” President Barack Obama said at a Clinton campaign event in Florida.
On Election Day, thousands of Democratic and Republican volunteers will work at different polling places across cities and counties in the United States. According to Banda, it would be impossible for these thousands of volunteers to get together to rig the election in some way.
“All of those thousands of people would have to work together to rig an election in some way, and that is not even accounting for the mechanics of rigging an election,” Banda said. “Do you stuff the ballot box with extra ballots? Do you somehow hack into the electronic system that they have? Are you screwing with the punch machines?
“Because you have different kinds of voting mechanisms in different counties and different cities, the likelihood of thousands of people who don’t like each other agreeing to rig an election in one particular way is basically zero.”
The Department of Homeland Security will be providing safeguards in to up to 25 states to detect problems before the election results are in. State officials also make routine backups and checks of who is registered to vote.
The Fallout
Several Republicans have withdrawn their support for Trump after the leak of his comments on “Access Hollywood,” and the candidate’s rigged election comments have drawn the party further away from its nominee.
“I think the claim makes Republicans less likely to turn out and participate because you’ve got their figurehead up there basically saying their vote doesn’t matter, so why should they show up? I think it is making it even worse for him, and it is making it even worse for down-ballot Republicans,” Banda said.
Earlier this month, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan released a statement after Trump’s comments, saying he is “confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.”
Trump’s comments have led many voters to lose faith in the electoral system, yet the comments have not resulted in an increase in support for Trump in the polls.
“I think he is making excuse for the loss he knows is coming because that makes it easier for him to say, ‘It wasn’t my fault that I lost because it was rigged against me,’” Banda said.
Only the results from Election Day will determine whether or not Trump will retract his “rigged” election claims, but Banda says the rhetoric from these claims may prove dangerous to American democracy.
“It makes people less confident in elections and electoral institutions,” Banda said.
professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno. “It would have to happen systematically, and it would have to happen systematically in a lot of places.”
Trump also cited from the Pew Research report that 2.5 million people in the United States are registered to vote in two different states, claiming they all vote twice.
A former Pew official, David Becker, who co-authored the report Trump cited in his claims, said it does not make sense for a person to vote twice in an election with the lack of result the crime offers and the felony at stake if the voter were to be caught.
Trump has also blamed his usual victim for rigging the election: the media. He has said the “phony, disgusting, dishonest papers” are wrongly reporting him to be lagging behind Clinton in the polls.
The real-estate mogul has consistently lagged behind his Democratic challenger throughout the last month, according to the Real Clear Politics average. However, the polls have tightened considerably in the past week or so, squeezing Clinton’s lead to three points on average, down from about seven.
Is It true?
Trump’s outcry may have shocked voters enough to have them questioning if this election could be rigged, hacked or taken over by fraudulent voters. However, according to several Republicans and Democrats, voters need not worry about voter fraud or election-rigging this election.
“You are much likelier to be struck by lightning than have somebody next to you commit voter fraud,” President Barack Obama said at a Clinton campaign event in Florida.
On Election Day, thousands of Democratic and Republican volunteers will work at different polling places across cities and counties in the United States. According to Banda, it would be impossible for these thousands of volunteers to get together to rig the election in some way.
“All of those thousands of people would have to work together to rig an election in some way, and that is not even accounting for the mechanics of rigging an election,” Banda said. “Do you stuff the ballot box with extra ballots? Do you somehow hack into the electronic system that they have? Are you screwing with the punch machines?
“Because you have different kinds of voting mechanisms in different counties and different cities, the likelihood of thousands of people who don’t like each other agreeing to rig an election in one particular way is basically zero.”
The Department of Homeland Security will be providing safeguards in to up to 25 states to detect problems before the election results are in. State officials also make routine backups and checks of who is registered to vote.
The Fallout
Several Republicans have withdrawn their support for Trump after the leak of his comments on “Access Hollywood,” and the candidate’s rigged election comments have drawn the party further away from its nominee.
“I think the claim makes Republicans less likely to turn out and participate because you’ve got their figurehead up there basically saying their vote doesn’t matter, so why should they show up? I think it is making it even worse for him, and it is making it even worse for down-ballot Republicans,” Banda said.
Earlier this month, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan released a statement after Trump’s comments, saying he is “confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.”
Trump’s comments have led many voters to lose faith in the electoral system, yet the comments have not resulted in an increase in support for Trump in the polls.
“I think he is making excuse for the loss he knows is coming because that makes it easier for him to say, ‘It wasn’t my fault that I lost because it was rigged against me,’” Banda said.
Only the results from Election Day will determine whether or not Trump will retract his “rigged” election claims, but Banda says the rhetoric from these claims may prove dangerous to American democracy.
“It makes people less confident in elections and electoral institutions,” Banda said.
