Trump Claims — without Proof — That Voters Changed Clothes to Cast Ballots Twice in Midterms
As election results continue to roll in from this month’s midterms, Donald Trump is making wild new — and wholly unsubstantiated — allegations about voter fraud, including suggesting that voters cast multiple ballots by simply returning to polling places over and over again in new outfits.
“The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes,” the president claimed during an interview with the Daily Caller, a conservative news and opinion website, on Wednesday. “When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.”
Additionally, Trump called for national voter ID laws. “If you buy a box of cereal — you have a voter ID,” Trump said. “They try to shame everybody by calling them racist, or calling them something, anything they can think of, when you say you want voter ID. But voter ID is a very important thing.”
Trump provided no evidence to his claims, nor did the White House immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
As outlets like The Washington Post and others have reported, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States. Trump’s own special commission to study voter fraud in the 2016 election was disbanded without finding any evidence, after some states refused to provide data.
The Daily Caller also asked the president about Brenda Snipes, the election supervisor from Florida’s Broward County.
Many counties in Florida, including Broward and Palm Beach counties, are still tallying votes in Florida’s senate and gubernatorial race after a recount mandated by state law was called. According to the AP, unexpectedly high voter turnout and the length of this year’s ballots have caused the slow recount in Broward — though Republicans have accused Snipes of fraud.
“She should have been removed,” Trump told The Daily Caller of Snipes. “I think she should have been removed in the middle of this mix-up.”
“She’s a disaster,” Trump added. “You look at her past, she’s a disaster. Even with me. I won Florida and — you remember? That area, Broward, didn’t come in. You can only put in so many votes, although she may change that system.”
He added: “When they call this woman incompetent, they’re wrong. She’s very competent but in a bad way.”
Snipes has denied any wrongdoing, according to NBC News.
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In the lead-up to the Nov. 6 midterm elections, Trump was accused of voter intimidation after he tweeted using all-caps about illegal voting.
The tweet in question — shared a day before the election — included the president claiming, “Law Enforcement has been strongly notified to watch closely for any ILLEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesday’s Election (or Early Voting). Anyone caught will be subject to the Maximum Criminal Penalties allowed by law. Thank you!”
Trump reportedly doubled down on his claim of rampant illegal voting at a rally in Cleveland, Ohi, according to the Washington Post. He said to reporters, “There are a lot of people — a lot of people — my opinion, and based on proof — that try and get in illegally and actually vote illegally. So we just want to let them know that there will be prosecutions at the highest level.”
Reacted one woman on Twitter: “In my 78 years I have never ever seen the President of the U.S. threaten voter intimidation like this.”
