Trump continues to undermine faith in upcoming election, saying without evidence it will be 'most corrupt in history, by far'

President appears to refer to viral concerns about 'unsolicited' mail-in voting applications, which have already been debunked

Gino Spocchia
Wednesday 02 September 2020 13:45 BST
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In another attack against mail-in ballots, Donald Trump attempted to delegitimise November’s presidential election with claims the method was “unsolicited”.

In a series of Twitter posts on Wednesday, he predicted “the most corrupt election in history”, as he dubbed mail-in ballots an “unsolicited ballots scam”.

“The Unsolicited Ballots Scam is their only hope,” the president wrote in an apparent reference to his Democratic opponents, who traditionally receive more mail-in votes than Republicans.

He added: “Will be the most corrupt election in history, by far!”

That comment was shared alongside a video featuring the conservative political commentator and conspiracy theorist, Glenn Beck, who warned that the internet was “manipulating” voters.

The clip, which did not mention mail-in ballots, ended with Mr Beck warning that “big tech will silence you and steal the election”.

Those claims themselves did not appear to have any basis in truth.

Facebook has previously debunked a viral post which claimed a couple who received five unsolicited ballot applications in the post would be able to vote five times. The post has been widely shared by those opposing mail-in voting, but in reality the applications are just forms which voters must themselves sign and return in order to receive a mail-in ballot. Anyone who filled in multiple applications would be committing a felony and almost certainly be spotted caught out by officials.

In another Twitter post less than 15 minutes later, Mr Trump posted a two word tweet which read “Rigged Election?”, as he retweeted the former editor-in-chief of Breitbart News London, Raheem Kassam.

Mr Kassam had shared an article titled: “WARNING: Democrat Data Firm Admits ‘Incredible’ Trump Landslide Will Be Flipped By Mail-In Votes Emerging A Week After Election Day”.

It follows predictions made by Democratic data analysts, who believe president Trump will appear to have defeated Joe Biden on election night, only for the Democratic nominee to win once mail-votes are counted.

Mr Trump has spent months attacking mail-in ballots, which Hawkfish, the data firm who made that prediction, believe 40 per cent of Americans will use to cast their votes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It follows the president’s claim in March that widespread mail-in voting would mean that “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again”.

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