If God There is nothing unusual about extensive litigation in election season by both parties, which maintain armies of lawyers to challenge voting arrangements, counting practices and even results every election cycle. The 2000 election between then-Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush caused weeks of bitter legal fights over the close result in Florida, which was eventually resolved in the 43rd president’s favor by the US Supreme Court. Gore conceded that election, thereby guaranteeing an uncontested transfer of presidential power — a step Trump refused to take four years ago.
Declining to accept the result of elections has not exclusively been a Republican transgression. Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, for instance, refused to concede her race against Republican Brian Kemp in 2018, citing voter suppression allegations, though the Democrat did accept her rival was elected.
But it is new to have a major presidential candidate slamming the fairness and legality of successive elections ahead of time and warning they will only accept results based on their arbitrary and often evidence-free evaluations of fairness.
Trump’s intentions shone through a Truth Social post on Thursday in which he seized on incidents in Pennsylvania to claim that the results in the crucial swing state are fraudulent. The cases concern a potential irregularity in Lancaster County involving around 2,500 voter registration forms. In York County, election officials have declined more than 700 “questionable” voter registration applications and referred them to the district attorney’s office for investigation, CNN’s Danny Freeman reported on Thursday.
Investigations are still pending and it’s possible fraud could be unearthed. But Trump is already off and running without waiting for the facts. “We caught them CHEATING BIG in Pennsylvania. Must announce and PROSECUTE, NOW! This is a CRIMINAL VIOLATION OF THE LAW. STOP VOTER FRAUD!” Trump wrote. “WE ARE ON THEM ALL THIS TIME! Who would have ever thought that our Country is so CORRUPT?”
Incidents in Pennsylvania show how the vortex of conspiracy theories created by Trump about US elections become self-fulfilling.
The alleged violations were discovered, which ought to underline how secure American voting really is. But instead, every new glitch becomes grist for yet another false claim.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday that Trump’s claims of cheating in the commonwealth were “more of the same” from the ex-president. “Donald Trump wants to, again, use the same playbook, where he tries to create chaos and stoke division and fear, about our system. But again, we will have a free and fair, safe and secure election, in Pennsylvania, and the will of the people will be respected and protected.”
A dark new election tradition with a potentially devastating legacy
Trump’s assaults on the probity of American elections have made clear that a cycle of pre-election attempts to crush public confidence in the results has become as much of a presidential election tradition as primary season, the conventions and the historic moment when TV networks call the eventual winner.
The ex-president’s attempts to instill doubt in the system could also have a long-lasting legacy. Many polls show declining trust in the election system — and a new survey from CNN this week showed Trump’s antics have left the electorate jaundiced about his likely conduct next week. Just 30% of registered voters think Trump would accept the results of the election and concede if he loses, while 73% say that Harris would accept an election loss.
However, even if Americans may have concerns about their votes being counted, it’s not stopping them from casting ballots. More than 60 million Americans have already voted ahead of Tuesday’s election. And for all the tumult caused by Trump’s refusal to admit defeat and attempts to steal power after the 2020 election, the system did, eventually, ensure that the rightful winner of the presidency ended up in the Oval Office. The ex-president’s persistent and baseless claims of widespread fraud were thrown out by multiple courts at all levels including the Supreme Court.
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