/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f723ce187ec74e766144241/0x0.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,800&ssl=1 "Trump Has Turned ‘Ballot Harvesting’ Into A Rallying Cry Against Mail-In Voting—Here’s What It Is")
Topline
As President Trump seeks to erode trust in mail-in voting, he has latched onto “ballot harvesting” — a loaded term that is essentially another way of saying “ballot collection” — as proof voting by mail is rife with fraud, though the process is legal in 26 states and the president actually utilized the maneuver himself earlier this year.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 27: U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to a question during a news … [+]
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Key Facts
There is no proof of widespread fraud when it comes to voting by mail, but that hasn’t stopped the president from pointing to one-off examples to support his claim that the process is rife with fraud.
On Monday, Trump called for an investigation into an unsubstantiated report from Project Veritas — a right-wing activist group that has a track record of publishing misleading stories — that claimed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was connected to a cash-for-ballots harvesting scheme (Omar’s office has denied the report).
Ballot collection, or “ballot harvesting,” is a process in which a voter fills out an absentee ballot, seals it and completes the necessary security checks before handing the ballot off to another person to be submitted at a polling/drop-off location.
The process is legal in 26 states, but a dozen of those states restrict the number of ballots a person can collect, while 10 states mandate the collection process can only be completed by the voter’s family member.
There’s no proof it has led to widespread fraud, as the president has claimed, but there are scattered examples, and Democrats and Republicans are more mixed about their support for the practice than they are about voting-by-mail at large.
However, in the past, campaigns from both parties have utilized the process to ensure absentee ballots are turned in and boost turnout.
Crucial Quote
Earlier this year, Trump called for the U.S. to “get rid of ballot harvesting” in a message on Twitter written in all caps:
Surprising Fact
Despite Trump’s repeated criticism of the process, the president himself used a third party to vote by mail in Florida this year, which is technically an example of ballot harvesting. Earlier this month, Trump encouraged North Carolina voters to vote twice so they could “test” out the system, which is a felony.
Key Background
In 2018, the North Carolina State Board of Elections threw out the results of a congressional election over an illegal form of ballot harvesting, after a Republican operative was charged with illegally collecting absentee ballots. It may have been the first example of election results being thrown out due to voter fraud in the U.S. However, as the Washington Post notes, in this case the GOP operative was charged with tampering and filling in absentee ballots, which is illegal under any circumstance.
Tangent
Trump has repeatedly used his platform to tear down mail-in voting, a practice that is being utilized widely this year due to the pandemic. Last week, the Department of Justice announced it launched a probe into nine discarded military ballots in a northeastern Pennsylvania county. Election experts raised concerns about the investigation, including its timing and the seemingly political nature of it.
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