
After spending months making the baseless claim that mail-in voting is bad because it promotes voter fraud, President Donald Trump encouraged voter fraud this week when he recommended that voters in North Carolina vote twice in order to test election security in that state. Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University, called out the utter lunacy of Trump’s suggestion by pointing out that breaking into a bank to test its alarm system would be a major crime.
Speaking at the Wilmington International Airport in North Carolina, Trump suggested that voters mail in their ballots and then see if they can also vote in person after that — which, he argued, would be a good way to test election security.
“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,” Trump said. “If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote.”
Pres. Trump appeared to suggest that his supporters should commit voter fraud by attempting to vote both by mail an… https://t.co/6UVWwPA5fw— NowThis (@NowThis) 1599084439.0
Of course, voting by mail and then trying to vote in person in the same election is flat-out illegal. Tribe, on Twitter, posted that “I was just testing whether this state can detect voter fraud when I showed up to vote a second time” would be “about as good a defense as ‘I broke into the bank just to test whether it has a good alarm system.’”
Tribe also tweeted, “Memo to Mr. Trump: You’re committing a felony by urging North Carolinians to cast illegal second votes. Not that you care.”
“I was just testing whether this state can detect voter fraud when I showed up to vote a second time” — is about… https://t.co/lHF0P9apS6— Laurence Tribe (@Laurence Tribe) 1599111191.0
Memo to Mr. Trump: You’re committing a felony by urging North Carolinians to cast illegal second votes. Not tha… https://t.co/Y4Slt4T5yg— Laurence Tribe (@Laurence Tribe) 1599092639.0
Tribe wasn’t the only legal expert or political voice to weigh in on Trump’s very bad recommendation. Here’s what others had to say on Twitter:
Casting two ballots is illegal. Don’t listen to the President. https://t.co/brFwhrYObs— ACLU (@ACLU) 1599091237.0
Turns out, in fact, criminal voter fraud exists In North Carolina, it's "unlawful...for any person with intent to… https://t.co/apga0RYYPe— Neal Katyal (@Neal Katyal) 1599096414.0
Trump encourages North Carolina residents to vote twice to test mail-in system. I shouldn’t have to tweet this but… https://t.co/NktabAxhdg— Ali Velshi (@Ali Velshi) 1599085796.0
BREAKING NEWS: Trump Urges GOP Voters to Commit Felony Voter Fraud to Steal the Election, Falsely Claims It Would A… https://t.co/nRN8tO1vrv— Seth Abramson (@Seth Abramson) 1599086435.0
Trump encourages North Carolina residents to vote twice to test mail-in system https://t.co/pGesGFCwXf via @nbcnews… https://t.co/7ESeQRZv2w— Martina Navratilova (@Martina Navratilova) 1599090870.0
Yeah, Donald Trump just called for his supporters to mail in their ballots and then to vote in-person. He's encoura… https://t.co/icXSVvFJs8— Brian Tyler Cohen (@Brian Tyler Cohen) 1599085315.0