Trump Calls To ‘Re-Run’ New York House Race Over Discarded Mail-In Ballots

TOPLINE

At a White House press conference on Monday, President Trump called to “re-run” the Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District, a race in which one candidate has refused to concede citing a large number of discarded and unreceived mail-in ballots.

KEY FACTS

News Peg

The comments come as Trump has frequently claimed mail-in ballots would lead to a fraudulent election result in November while refusing to commit to accepting the result. In July, Trump tweeted, “Mail-In Ballots will lead to massive electoral fraud and a rigged 2020 Election.” Experts have frequently noted that mail-in balloting has not been found to carry a considerably higher risk of fraud than in-person voting.

Tangent

Trump also said he would “probably file something tomorrow” to block universal mail-in voting in Nevada after lawmakers in the state approved legislation to send mail-in ballots to all voters. Trump on Monday morning called the bill’s passage “an illegal late night coup” that would make it “impossible for Republicans to win the state.” He has made similar comments about Michigan, another crucial swing state which has greatly expanded mail-in voting during the pandemic.

Chief Critic

Some analysts have noted that New York, a state notorious for its poorly administered elections, is a less-than-apt model for how mail-in voting would run elsewhere in the country. “The [New York State Board of Elections] found 1,600 votes from the 2012 election in Brooklyn in June 2013,” noted FiveThirtyEight elections analyst Geoffrey Skelley. “Fortunately, almost every state runs its elections better than NY, including pretty much all the battlegrounds.” 

What To Watch For

Despite Trump’s framing of mail-in balloting as innately inadequate, New York has already taken some measures to avoid the issues that plagued its June primary. The New York State legislature passed a bill in July giving voters in the state the opportunity to address challenges to their ballots to avoid invalidation.