The Harris campaign on Thursday said former President Donald Trump’s allegations of voter fraud and misconduct are baseless, and voters across the country can rest assured that voting in the battleground states is secure.
“People are voting safer and securely across the country and this will be a free and fair election,” a senior Harris campaign official told reporters. “We have lawyers ready 24/7 across the country to protect voters at the polls and in the courtroom and we want all of our voters — all voters in the country — to feel incredibly confident.”
Mr. Trump in recent days has ramped up allegations of voting fraud in Pennsylvania and other places around the country. There have been a few isolated incidents, but so far no evidence of widespread voter fraud has emerged.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Mr. Trump from escalating those claims, this week accusing Pennsylvania officials of “cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels.”
The playbook follows the same path Mr. Trump used in 2020, when his campaign spread viral videos of supposed wrongdoing and promising legal retribution. Some Democrats have accused Mr. Trump of doing so again to lay the groundwork to contest the election results if he loses.
For example, Trump allies this week disseminated videos of long lines in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where voters were waiting to request an in-person mail ballot.
Trump campaign political director James Blair wrote on X that the line was shut down early around 2:30, which he called “suppressing and intimidating.”
State officials said the lines were shut down midafternoon to comply with state law requiring the office to close at 5 p.m. A judge, in response to a Republican National Committee lawsuit, ordered the office to stay open three additional days through Friday to accommodate the long lines.
The court ruling found that Bucks County officials “violated the Pennsylvania Election Code.” The state had asked counties to ensure that anyone who was in line before 5 p.m. on Tuesday to receive a ballot could at least fill out an application to receive a mail-in ballot.
Pennsylvania doesn’t offer in-person early voting. Voters must request, fill out and return their mail ballots in person at the county elections office to cast a mail ballot early.
“That’s the system working just as it should,” the official said of the decision to extend days in Bucks County.
The Harris campaign official said the claims made by Mr. Trump and his allies are a sign that he’s “clearly worried that he’s going to lose the election.”
“We know it because he’s ramping up baseless claims of election fraud and irregularities. … Needless to say, Pennsylvania is not cheating,” the official said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.