Fact checking Barr on voting by mail and fraud

[Maeve]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/04/attorney-general-barrs-false-claims-about-voting-by-mail/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

Barr stated on CNN: “Elections that have been held with mail have found substantial fraud and coercion. For example, we indicted someone in Texas — 1,700 ballots collected from people who could vote, he made them out and voted for the person he wanted to.”

Neither claim is true. Elections held by mail in the United States have been almost entirely free of fraud. Ask the five states that use mail ballots as their primary method of voting. None reports any issues. The Texas case Barr cited as proof involves one fraudulent ballot, which was caught, not 1,700.

Barr earns Four Pinocchios.

Recent polls show that Democrats have more confidence in voting security than Republicans do--we are more fact-based. Let's keep it that way.

[Maeve]

1. Also from that article

The day after Barr’s CNN interview, the Department of Homeland Security issued an unclassified intelligence bulletin warning that Russia is seeking to undermine confidence in U.S. elections by spreading the same kinds of claims about mail voting as Trump and Barr.

“Since March 2020, Russian state media and proxy websites have denigrated vote-by-mail processes, alleging they lack transparency and procedural oversight, creating vast opportunities for voter fraud,” according to the DHS bulletin, obtained by ABC News.

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, in its report about Russian election disinformation, recommended: “Sitting officials and candidates should use the absolute greatest amount of restraint and caution if they are considering publicly calling the validity of an upcoming election into question. Such a grave allegation can have significant national security and electoral consequences, including limiting the response options of the appropriate authorities, and exacerbating the already damaging messaging efforts of foreign intelligence services.”

[True Blue American]

2. Ann Romney joins Michelle Obama

In a TV program about voting!

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/515051-ann-romney-to-join-tv-special-with-michelle-obama-to-get-out