Georgia investigating claims that 1,000 people voted twice as Trump urges supporters to do the same

Voting rights group says ‘voters should not be subjected to inflammatory allegations by the state’s top elections officials’

A week after Donald Trump suggested Americans test the capacity of their election systems by mailing ballots then voting at the polls, which is illegal, Georgia’s secretary of state has accused hundreds of voters in the state of knowingly doing so.

Brad Raffensperger said 1,000 instances of double voting in 100 counties were discovered in the state’s June and August elections.

Casting two ballots carries a penalty of one to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

"Every double voter will be investigated thoroughly," the Republican secretary of state said during a press conference on Tuesday. "A double voter knows exactly what they are doing."

His office did not provide evidence that voters deliberately or maliciously cast two ballots, committing the kind of widespread fraud that the president baselessly claims has been and will be committed across the US.

The president – who has opposed expanding vote-by-mail efforts during the coronavirus pandemic and has suggested that doing so would generate more votes against him – told reporters in North Carolina on 2 September that voters who have cast mailed-in ballots should “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,” he said. “That’s the way it is … and that’s what they should do.”

The White House scrambled to defend his suggestion and instead blame Democrats for a “fraudulent” expansion of vote-by-mail efforts, while election officials have warned that his remarks, as well as his doubts against the integrity of US elections, have only caused more confusion and chaos as voters head to the ballot box.

“What he said very clearly there is make sure your … vote is tabulated, and if it is not, then vote," press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News last week. “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.”

The president also clarified his comments in a series of Twitter posts on 3 September.

“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,” he said . “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).”

Facebook also announced that video of his comments violates the platform’s “policies prohibiting voter fraud and we will remove it unless it is shared to correct the record.”

While more than 1.1 million ballots were cast by mail in Georgia’s June primary elections, at least 11,000 ballots were tossed out, and another 8,000 arrived after the polls had closed, prompting concerns among Georgia voters who wanted to ensure that their ballot was cast.

There were also reports of delays at the polls and ballot deliveries and lost requests for ballots, according to voting rights group Common Cause Georgia, which has called on Secretary Raffensperger’s office to form an elections task force “to prepare plans to fix the problems that occurred in June.”

The state has protections in place meant to prevent voters from voting twice.

Georgia voters who requested a mail-in ballot but chose to vote in-person must sign an affidavit, and poll workers must call elections officers to verify whether they’ve received a ballot from an in-person voter whose registration shows that they requested an absentee ballot.

In the event there are two ballots cast per voter, the secretary of state's office says also has safeguards in place to count only one vote.

Pressed to answer for evidence whether people knowingly voted twice, Mr Raffensperger pointed to a report of one man who cast two votes to “prove a flaw in the system."

“We wholeheartedly agree that people who intentionally vote twice should be subject to the usual criminal penalties for election law violations," said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia. 

“But we are concerned that voters who were simply trying to vote may get caught up in the dragnet,” she said in a statement. “There was a lot of confusion about the presidential primary, which was rescheduled after some voters had already cast mail ballots – but when those voters wanted to vote in the state primary, they received ballots that also included the race. Did that count as ‘voting twice’?  There was a lot of confusion about whether mailed ballots had been received by elections officials, because elections officials did not update the website for tracking mailed ballots. Did requesting a mail ballot but voting at the polls – when the tracking system said the mailed ballot had not been received – count as ‘voting twice’? Voters should not be penalised for the failures of elections administrators.”

Voters should “not be subjected to inflammatory allegations by the state’s top elections officials,” she added.