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Fair elections should never be taken for granted. It’s critical that we continuously scrutinize and improve the electoral process, but baseless and self-serving allegations of election fraud have drowned out the legitimate discussions about election integrity and electoral reform.
After alleging voter fraud in 2016, Trump had an opportunity to address those allegations when he took office. One attempt was a short-lived commission that was sued by one of its members for withholding information and terminated by President Trump less than two weeks after being ordered to provide that information.
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (PACEI) was established in 2017 after Trump signed an executive order directing the new commission to submit a report that identifies "those vulnerabilities in voting systems and practices used for Federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations and improper voting, including fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting."
Matthew Dunlap, a member of the commission and Maine’s then-Secretary of State, sued the commission for withholding information in Nov. 2017. The next month, a U.S. District Judge ordered the PACEI to provide those documents to Dunlap. 12 days later, President Trump signed an executive order terminating the PACEI. Later in 2018, Dunlap reported that he received the documents in July of that year and concluded that the documents lacked "any evidence of widespread voter fraud."
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During and after the 2020 election, Trump and other conservatives raised new allegations of election misconduct. In Dec. 2020, the Attorney General of Texas filed a motion on behalf of his state to sue Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The motion alleged that government officials in the defendant states used “the COVID-19 pandemic as a justification” to make revisions to their state election laws in violation of the Electors Clause of the Constitution. The motion was denied by the Court, and, while Justices Alito and Thomas disagreed with the decision, none of the three justices appointed by President Trump joined Alito and Thomas in the statement.
Before the motion was denied, Trump filed his own motion before the Supreme Court to join the suit alongside Texas. In Trump’s motion, his team falsely claimed that “no candidate in history – Republican or Democrat – has ever lost the election after winning both” Florida and Ohio. We don’t have to look back very far to disprove this. Richard Nixon won both Florida and Ohio in his 1960 presidential loss to John F. Kennedy.
Other allegations originated from Republican lawmakers, like Representative Louie Gohmert’s legal action against former Vice President Pence. In that case, Gohmert challenged some provisions of the Electoral Count Act as unconstitutional. Gohmert’s case was dismissed.
It’s worth noting that Louie Gohmert first entered Congress in 2005 and the provisions Gohmert challenged in his suit haven’t meaningfully changed since 1948 — the only changes have been related to procedural dates.
Some allegations came with the promise of evidence that was never provided. Take, for example, US Dominion, Inc.’s cases against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell for alleged defamatory statements they made related to Dominion and the 2020 election. In a November 2020 tweet, Trump had mentioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell as members of a team “added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!” Powell and Giuliani also “appeared together at a press conference at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.,” during which Giuliani noted that they were representing President Trump and the Trump campaign.
According to Dominion, Powell claimed Dominion "was involved in 'massive election fraud'" and "created 'to make sure [Hugo Chávez] never lost an election' and imported to the United States to flip votes from Trump to Biden in the 2020 election."
Powell filed a motion in which she argued that, assuming the statements alleged in the suit could be proven true or false, “no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact."
The court denied Powell’s motion to dismiss, noting that Powell said she would tweet a video of the founder of Dominion admitting he can change votes and that Powell stated she was eager to put forth evidence on how Dominion was created to change votes for Hugo Chávez. According to the court, Powell has not provided the video.
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Fair elections should never be taken for granted. It’s critical that we continuously scrutinize and improve the electoral process, but baseless and self-serving allegations of election fraud have drowned out the legitimate discussions about election integrity and electoral reform.
After alleging voter fraud in 2016, Trump had an opportunity to address those allegations when he took office. One attempt was a short-lived commission that was sued by one of its members for withholding information and terminated by President Trump less than two weeks after being ordered to provide that information.
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (PACEI) was established in 2017 after Trump signed an executive order directing the new commission to submit a report that identifies "those vulnerabilities in voting systems and practices used for Federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations and improper voting, including fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting."
Matthew Dunlap, a member of the commission and Maine’s then-Secretary of State, sued the commission for withholding information in Nov. 2017. The next month, a U.S. District Judge ordered the PACEI to provide those documents to Dunlap. 12 days later, President Trump signed an executive order terminating the PACEI. Later in 2018, Dunlap reported that he received the documents in July of that year and concluded that the documents lacked "any evidence of widespread voter fraud."
Support SourcedFact on Patreon
During and after the 2020 election, Trump and other conservatives raised new allegations of election misconduct. In Dec. 2020, the Attorney General of Texas filed a motion on behalf of his state to sue Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The motion alleged that government officials in the defendant states used “the COVID-19 pandemic as a justification” to make revisions to their state election laws in violation of the Electors Clause of the Constitution. The motion was denied by the Court, and, while Justices Alito and Thomas disagreed with the decision, none of the three justices appointed by President Trump joined Alito and Thomas in the statement.
Before the motion was denied, Trump filed his own motion before the Supreme Court to join the suit alongside Texas. In Trump’s motion, his team falsely claimed that “no candidate in history – Republican or Democrat – has ever lost the election after winning both” Florida and Ohio. We don’t have to look back very far to disprove this. Richard Nixon won both Florida and Ohio in his 1960 presidential loss to John F. Kennedy.
Other allegations originated from Republican lawmakers, like Representative Louie Gohmert’s legal action against former Vice President Pence. In that case, Gohmert challenged some provisions of the Electoral Count Act as unconstitutional. Gohmert’s case was dismissed.
It’s worth noting that Louie Gohmert first entered Congress in 2005 and the provisions Gohmert challenged in his suit haven’t meaningfully changed since 1948 — the only changes have been related to procedural dates.
Some allegations came with the promise of evidence that was never provided. Take, for example, US Dominion, Inc.’s cases against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell for alleged defamatory statements they made related to Dominion and the 2020 election. In a November 2020 tweet, Trump had mentioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell as members of a team “added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!” Powell and Giuliani also “appeared together at a press conference at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.,” during which Giuliani noted that they were representing President Trump and the Trump campaign.
According to Dominion, Powell claimed Dominion "was involved in 'massive election fraud'" and "created 'to make sure [Hugo Chávez] never lost an election' and imported to the United States to flip votes from Trump to Biden in the 2020 election."
Powell filed a motion in which she argued that, assuming the statements alleged in the suit could be proven true or false, “no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact."
The court denied Powell’s motion to dismiss, noting that Powell said she would tweet a video of the founder of Dominion admitting he can change votes and that Powell stated she was eager to put forth evidence on how Dominion was created to change votes for Hugo Chávez. According to the court, Powell has not provided the video.
Support SourcedFact on Patreon