Here Are 6 Voter Fraud Claims You May Hear in Electoral Vote Hearing
No, there isn’t evidence that Pennsylvania election officials violated state law.
Claim: President Trump’s campaign has claimed that Pennsylvania election officials improperly handled tens of thousands of mail-in ballots in violation of state election law.
Fact: The Trump campaign’s legal efforts to disqualify votes in Pennsylvania have been unsupported by evidence.
Background: The Trump campaign filed several claims in court seeking to invalidate Pennsylvania’s election results, and one ally of Mr. Trump, Senator Josh Hawley, has said he would challenge the results because he believed “some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws.”
But the Trump campaign has included no evidence that any vote had been cast illegally.
In a hearing on Nov. 17, President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, acknowledged he had no proof to back up his claims of voter fraud in Pennsylvania. “This is not a fraud case,” Mr. Giuliani said.
Four days later, the judge overseeing the case dismissed the lawsuit. It was also shot down last month by Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who said in a ruling, “Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”
No, Pence does not have the power to change the election result.
Claim: Vice President Mike Pence can reject state electors in the Electoral College.
Fact: Federal law stipulates that the vice president’s role is to count Electoral College votes, not decide whether they are valid.
Background: President Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed on Twitter that Mr. Pence has the power to reject electors when the Electoral College vote is certified.
As president of the Senate, Mr. Pence is expected to preside over the pro forma certification of the Electoral College vote count in front of a joint session of Congress. The only electoral certifications available for Vice President Pence to preside over are the ones approved by each state.
Ben Decker and Jacob Silver contributed research.
*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from The New York Times can be found here ***
