" />

The Moderate Voice

An Internet hub with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, indies, centrists, moderates, and right


You are here: Home / Law / Trump encourages North Carolina voters to (illegally) vote twice

Trump encourages North Carolina voters to (illegally) vote twice

by Leave a Comment

Dreamstime

Among the many things about the Donald Trump political era are these facts: 1)Trump breaks norms and ignores the law 2)breaking norms and ignoring laws creates a temporary outcry 3)Republicans are silent and the breaking norms or ignoring laws doesn’t spark sufficient institutional or societal backlash. Rather, it becomes the new normal, a seemingly permanent alteration in traditional democracy

The latest in this norm-breaking medley is Donald Trump now encouraging voters in North Carolina to vote twice, supposedly to test to see voting security. The bottom line is that he’s encouraging voters to violate a key democratic tenet reflected in the phrase “One man, one vote.” Elementary schoolers and cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli on the shelves at Safeway know that.

Plus, it is a felony.

NBC News:

President Donald Trump suggested that people in North Carolina should vote twice in the November election, once by mail and once in person, escalating his attempts to cast confusion and doubt on the validity of the results.

“So let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote,” Trump said when asked whether he has confidence in the mail-in system in North Carolina, a battleground state.

“If it’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote. So that’s the way it is. And that’s what they should do,” he said.

It is illegal to vote more than once in an election.

Trump has made countless false statements about the security of voting by mail ahead of the election as much of the country braces for an increase of voters who opt for mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.

As I wrote this I was JUST thinking: now it’s time for the White House to say he didn’t say what he said and to clarify his comments. Which is an oft-used political tactic: say something to get it out there and let folks know how you think, then after the controversy walk it back, but then it has been Mission Accomplished: the real message has gotten out.

And so it is.

During a trip to North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump suggested that those who vote by mail “then go and vote” in person as well. Intentionally voting twice is illegal, and in many states, including North Carolina, it is a felony.

“Based on the massive number of Unsolicited & Solicited Ballots that will be sent to potential Voters for the upcoming 2020 Election, & in order for you to MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE COUNTS & IS COUNTED, SIGN & MAIL IN your Ballot as EARLY as possible,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “On Election Day, or Early Voting, go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted). If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly. If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen’s right to do).”

Following his advice, he said, would ensure “THAT YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE HAS BEEN COUNTED, it hasn’t been ‘lost, thrown out, or in any way destroyed.’ ”

His tweets came shortly after a television appearance in which White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted that Trump was not calling on voters to break the law.

“The president is not suggesting anyone do anything unlawful,” McEnany said during an appearance on Fox News. “What he said very clearly there is make sure your [mail-in] vote is tabulated, and if it is not, then vote.”

“He wants verification,” McEnany continued. “Democrats want a whole new fraudulent system of mail-in voting never tried before in American history, and what Democrats are saying to you is, ‘Trust us, but don’t verify.’ What this president is saying is verify your vote.”

Trump’s comments Wednesday generated enough confusion that the N.C. Board of Elections issued a statement saying that it is a Class 1 felony to intentionally vote twice. The board also noted that it is illegal to solicit someone to vote twice.

The bottom line? Cut out all the noise and he wants to get his follower to vote twice.

Rick Hasen in Election Law Blog:

Under North Carolina law, it is illegal: “For any person with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time, or to induce another to do so, in the same primary or election, or to vote illegally at any primary or election.”

Was Trump by his comments “induc[ing]” “with intent to commit fraud” a person to “vote” “more than one time” “in the same …. election”? I think a case could be made that he did. He was encouraging people to vote both by mail and in person. The questionable part is about his intent. It sounds like he was suggesting an attempt at double voting as a means of testing the integrity of the system, or assuring that his voters can cast at least one ballot for him. Is that a fraudulent intent? I could see how a jury could find it to be so especially given Trump’s other statements suggesting he believes that such double voting would not be caught by election officials.

Another possible defense is that Trump was “joking” or not being serious about his comments, and this was typical Trumpian hyperbole. Perhaps so, but I think many people may hear his comments and think he is serious. At the very least, this is now going to create a headache for election administrators in North Carolina (and potentially elsewhere) to admonish voters not to try to do this and muck up the system.

Federal law also makes it a crime for a person to vote more than once in a federal election.

Photo 167263834 © – Dreamstime.com