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Even though it has been proven that absentee ballots are secure, and President Trump frequently votes that way himself, he continues to push the narrative that mail-in voting will “rig the election.”
A report by The Atlantic details a plan by President Trump’s campaign to bypass the result of November’s election. The Atlantic, citing Republican Party sources, says that the campaign is “discussing contingency plans to bypass election results. They plan to appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority.”
The report says the campaign will claim this step is necessary due to supposed voter fraud. However, experts say this is extraordinarily rare.
“Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly,” reports The Atlantic. “The longer Trump succeeds in keeping the vote count in doubt, the more pressure legislators will feel to act before the safe-harbor deadline expires.”
The safe-harbor deadline to appoint 538 electors is on Dec. 8.
A Trump campaign legal adviser spoke to The Atlantic. They said that in this scenario, “the state legislature will say, ‘All right, we’ve been given this constitutional power. We don’t think the results of our own state are accurate, so here’s our slate of electors that we think properly reflect the results of our state.”
Lawrence Tabas, chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, told The Atlantic that he discussed appointing electors with the Trump Campaign.
“I’ve mentioned it to them, and I hope they’re thinking about it too,” said Tabas. “The Trump campaign said it is “fighting for a free and fair election.”
Experts warn that “conditions are ripe for a constitutional crisis.”
Related: Trump Requests Mail-in Ballots for Tuesday Election
President Trump was asked on Wednesday whether he’d commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the upcoming election. He declined to do so.
“Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” said Trump. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”
When pressured further, Trump replied, “We’ll want to have—get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very—we’ll have a very peaceful—there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.”
In June when he was asked by Fox News’ Chris Wallace if he’d accept election results, Trump said he’d “have to see” and claimed that voting by mail would “rig the election.”
Although Trump has repeatedly said mail-in voting is fraudulent, his campaign has never released evidence to prove it. In fact, both Trump and Melania have made use of mail-in voting recently and the Trump campaign has been encouraging voters in key swing states to request ballots.
Related: Video of Trump Voting Absentee in 2004 Surfaces
In other news, you might want to be careful using hand sanitizer in cars. It doesn’t matter what model you have, explorer, ford, you name it.
