A U.S. attorney from Pennsylvania revealed that the local election office allegedly discarded nine mailed-in ballots in a swing county. The state is considered one of the most crucial battlegrounds for the presidential race.
Mail-in voting fraud?
According to AP News, the attorney claimed that all of the ballots were apparently marked for United States President Donald Trump. However, a later news release stated that two of the ballots had an unknown presidential choice because officials have resealed them.
Neither news releases detailed the alleged mail-in ballot fraud and how it was done or if investigators believe that a criminal act has been conducted.
Despite the little amount of available information, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that ballots marked for Trump were cast aside. Trump's campaign immediately had its rapid response arm push out the release.
The Justice Department titled the news as "Democrats are trying to steal the election" even though the local government in the area had Republican leaders. However, conservative voices continue to use the news release to fuel the investigation on social media platforms.
The Thursday news release and accompanying social media outrage is likely a precursor to what Americans could see within the remaining month before the November election.
The presidential race is being conducted amid a rampaging pandemic that has caused a surge of absentee ballot requests and Trump frequently pushing his baseless claims of mail-in voting fraud.
During a previous interview, Trump revealed what Attorney-General William Barr had announced in public first, that the discarded ballots were marked for the Republican leader. Trump then used the investigation to push his concept further that mail-in voting was a dangerous method.
Legitimacy of the presidential election
Trump told reporters that they wanted to ensure the legitimacy of the presidential election and cast his doubts because of the alleged threat of mail-in voting fraud. He claimed that several ballots were discovered dumped in a river and some, who had his name on them, were discarded into a wastepaper basket, as reported by VOA News.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Pennsylvania revealed that only nine out of several military ballots that were discarded had been recovered during an official investigation.
In a statement, the Justice Department said that they were only able to link some of the ballots to specific voters. They revealed that seven of the ballots were named for Trump and the contents of the other two ballots were unknown.
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray, told a Senate panel on Thursday that historically, the United States has not been victim to coordinated national voter fraud effort during a major election, whether it was voting by mail or otherwise.
Wray stated that it would be a massive challenge for any opposition to conduct a large-scale election fraud. However, the FBI director said that the agency is keeping its eyes open and monitoring potential threats.
According to the Wall Street Journal, an election-law expert at the University of California, Richard Hasen, said that law enforcement had no reason to reveal who the votes were marked for. However, he noted the move served a political purpose as Trump has frequently accused mail-in voting as a fraud and that destruction or discarding of votes meant for him fit his reasoning.
