President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would seek an investigation into what he believes was voter fraud in last November’s election, despite an overwhelming consensus among state officials, election experts, and politicians that it is rare in the United States. The announcement drew rebukes from both Republicans and Democrats who said the Republican president’s unsubstantiated claims of large-scale fraud could undermine voting rights efforts as well as confidence in the new U.S. chief executive. In the Nov. 8 election, Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots. Irked by that large figure, he has blamed voter fraud without citing evidence. “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and….even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time),” Trump said on Twitter. “Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” In an interview with ABC News, Trump said none of the illegal votes would have been cast for him. “They would all be for the other side,” he said. White House press secretary Sean Spicer later told a news briefing that the probe would not focus on only the 2016 election.
Three Democratic congressmen demanded proof of such fraud and sent a letter to election officials and attorneys general in all 50 U.S. states seeking examples of cases of fraud in November’s vote.
Many of the state officials did not need prompting with election officers in several states rejecting Trump’s claims immediately. “Easy to vote, hard to cheat #Ohio,” Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, Jon Husted, said in a Twitter post rebutting Trump’s claim that 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants voted against him. “That’s impossible,” Democratic Secretary of State Alex Padilla of California said on CNN.
There is no history of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections. Leading Republicans, including the top Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, have rejected the claims.
Ryan, however, said in an interview Wednesday with MSNBC that if Trump believes there is widespread fraud “the right thing is to get an investigation to get the facts.”
Full Article: Trump’s call for probe of voter fraud sparks backlash | Reuters.