Trump's Cries Of Cheating On Mail-in Ballots Defy Logic

SACRAMENTO — Why would an migrant surviving present illegally consequence jailhouse and deportation by trying to vote? That has ever puzzled me.

And why would a governmental pro discarded clip and money soliciting votes from noncitizens erstwhile location are millions of ineligible voters disposable to persuade?

The reply is that undocumented immigrants don’t. And neither do run consultants.

President Trump and MAGA Republicans who echo his diatribe are hallucinating aliases outright lying erstwhile they declare without grounds that there’s wide fraud successful American elections — specifically successful bluish states for illustration California that ballot for Democrats.

Trump reiterated nan fabrication past week erstwhile he signed an executive order seeking to spot tight national controls connected progressively celebrated mail-in voting.

“Mail-in voting intends mail-in cheating,” Trump reiterated. “Cheating connected mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible what’s going on.”

“See you successful court,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom replied.

California and respective states collaborated successful filing a suit accusing nan president of an forbidden powerfulness grab. They pointed retired that states person a law correct to administer elections beautiful overmuch arsenic they spot fit.

Trump hypocritically voted by message himself successful a caller Florida typical election.

“You cognize what, because I’m president of nan United States,” he told reporters erstwhile asked astir nan vote. “I had a batch of different things” to do. For him, voting by message was convenient.

As for nan remainder of us, apparently successful Trump’s mind we don’t do thing important capable to warrant useful message voting.

The reality is that egotistical Trump still can’t admit to himself that he mislaid nan 2020 statesmanlike predetermination to Joe Biden adjacent and square. Democrats must person cheated, he thinks — aliases says he does.

The main measurement Democrats cheat, Trump and his followers assert, is to information up noncitizens and registry them to ballot — particularly immigrants from Latin America.

It’s nonsensical. As if immoderate undocumented migrant struggling to past and dodge ICE agents really gives a rat who’s elected politician aliases senator. Voting fraudulently is simply a crime — a misdemeanor aliases a felony, punishable by a steep good and/or jailhouse time.

And a run pro is going to break nan rule by offering rate aliases groceries to a noncitizen for her vote? That would beryllium felony stupid.

“We can’t get Latinos who person been present legally for 3 generations to vote. If you’re going to walk money getting votes, that’s wherever you’re going to walk it,” says Republican advisor Mike Madrid, who has written a book astir Latino governmental influence.

“The conception that Democratic operatives are going aft undocumented immigrants is absurd.”

People who migrated present illegally, Madrid adds, “don’t want to touch nan authorities successful immoderate style aliases form. They conscionable want to put successful a difficult day’s activity and retreat to nan shadows. They couldn’t attraction little astir authorities and voting successful nan United States.”

No difficult grounds of important predetermination fraud successful America successful caller years has been produced by Trump aliases anyone else.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a starring Republican campaigner for governor, apparently was trying to impressment Trump and triumph his endorsement by seizing much than 650,000 ballots formed successful November’s Proposition 50 election.

The sheriff said he was investigating claims — unsubstantiated — of predetermination fraud. But nan task is now connected hold. A bully spot for it.

It was a discarded of nan sheriff’s resources to cod nan ballots and would beryllium an moreover bigger misuse of unit and money to sift done each of those documents successful a fruitless hunt for fraud.

I called Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, a Democrat who was Santa Cruz County’s main elections charismatic for 27 years. She chairs nan Assembly Elections Committee.

In each of those years supervising elections, Pellerin told me, she encountered only 1 clear lawsuit of fraud. A landlord snatched a ballot that had been mailed to a tenant and illegally formed it.

But a elector must motion nan letter cover containing a mailed ballot and nan landlord’s signature didn’t lucifer nan intended voter’s arsenic fixed erstwhile she primitively registered. Election officials contacted nan intended voter, who said she hadn’t received her ballot yet. The landlord was prosecuted and convicted.

Signatures are checked pinch nan usage of exertion successful California. That’s nan main method of verifying a mailed ballot’s legality.

Pellerin says her ain signature didn’t lucifer up once. “I sewage sloppy and my signature had changed since I registered 20 years earlier.” She was contacted by an elections charismatic and her ballot yet was counted.

In each election, she says, location are cases of a mother signing nan ballot for a girl who’s distant astatine college, aliases personification signing for an aging parent. The signatures invariably don’t lucifer and nan voters are contacted.

But that’s astir nan grade of alleged cheating, Pellerin says.

“Immigrants are present to make their lives better,” she says. “They’re not going to consequence immoderate way to citizenship by trying to participate successful an election.”

When voters register, they must reply nether punishment of perjury whether they’re a citizen.

Trump’s convoluted involution successful state-operated voting would, among different things, nonstop nan United States Postal Service to creation caller envelopes pinch barroom codes that verify elector legality. The feds would garbage to nonstop ballots to group deemed ineligible to formed them.

Gosh, what could perchance spell incorrect nether nan Trump administration?

Californians person embraced mail-in voting. In nan gubernatorial predetermination 40 years ago, only 9% of ballots were formed by mail; 20 years ago, 42% were. In November, it was up to 89%.

But baseless claims by Trump and his grovelers of “cheating” will persist. It fires up nan blimpish guidelines and raises governmental money.

It besides maligns noncitizens and dedicated elections officials who support voting fraud-free.

What other you should beryllium reading

The must-read: California predetermination experts sound siren arsenic complaint of rejected ballots quadruples
What nan ... : Californians whitethorn request to message ballots early arsenic Supreme Court signals support for caller predetermination time deadline
The L.A. Times Special: The loophole that keeps a Trump loyalist serving arsenic L.A.’s apical national prosecutor

Until adjacent week,
George Skelton

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