Former President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson are currently holding a joint appearance at Mar-a-Lago this Friday afternoon. The focus of their discussion is “election integrity.”
The topic holds utmost importance for Trump, the presumed GOP nominee, as he persistently makes false claims about winning the 2020 election. Trump’s emphasis on “election integrity” arises in a year when another closely contested battle with President Joe Biden is anticipated.
Johnson, like Trump, has emphasized the importance of “election integrity” and was among the 147 GOP lawmakers who voted against the outcome of the 2020 election. Additionally, he spearheaded the effort to rally 125 fellow Republicans to endorse an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, backing Texas’ legal action aimed at nullifying the election results in crucial swing states.
ABC News fact checks some of Trump’s false comments on elections and voting prior to the joint appearance with Johnson.
More than 50 lawsuits aiming to overturn the results of the 2020 election have been dismissed by state and federal courts across six states. Trump and his allies made thinly supported allegations of election misconduct and fraud in many of these cases.
An investigation conducted by the Associated Press revealed that there were only around 475 cases of voter fraud in six battleground states during the 2020 presidential election. This number is significantly low and would not have had any significant impact on the outcome of the election. Among the states examined by the AP, Arizona had the highest number of potential fraud cases, with 198 out of the 3.4 million votes cast. However, this accounted for less than 2% of the margin by which Biden won. Similarly, in Nevada, local officials identified between 93 and 98 potential fraud cases out of 1.4 million ballots cast, representing less than one-third of 1% of Biden’s margin of victory.
Trump continues to make baseless claims that he emerged victorious in the 2020 election in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. However, it is important to note that he actually lost all three of these states during the previous presidential election. In Pennsylvania, Biden secured a winning margin of 81,660 votes. Similarly, in Michigan, Biden triumphed with approximately 21,000 votes, and in Wisconsin, he emerged victorious with a lead of over 20,000 votes.
The United States National Intelligence Council, consisting of the country’s intelligence and security agencies, declared in 2021 that there is no evidence to suggest that any foreign actor tried to manipulate the technical aspects of the voting process during the 2020 elections.
Trump has been vocal in his criticism of voting methods.
President Trump frequently criticizes mail-in voting and has baselessly blamed it for his loss in the 2020 election. However, there is no substantial evidence to support his claims of widespread fraud. An analysis conducted by The Washington Post, using data from three states that implemented mail-in voting and assistance from the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center, found that out of approximately 14.6 million mail-in votes cast during the 2016 and 2018 general elections, there were only 372 potential instances of double voting or voting on behalf of deceased individuals. This accounts for a mere 0.0025% of the total votes.
During a rally in Michigan in February, President Trump reiterated his unfounded claims about mail-in voting, stating that it is inherently corrupt and urging his supporters to recognize this fact.
Trump has also persisted in making claims against voting machines, advocating for the use of paper ballots instead.
“I am committed to ensuring the security of our elections. We will take decisive actions to safeguard the integrity of our voting process. Our objective is to implement a one-day voting system with paper ballots, which is a straightforward and reliable method. Additionally, we will introduce a voter ID requirement to further enhance the legitimacy of our elections. However, until these measures are in place, it is vital for Republicans to win by a significant margin. We aim for a landslide victory that would be too substantial to manipulate,” stated Trump during a rally in Wisconsin on April 2. Despite his false claims of winning the state in the 2020 election, he emphasized the importance of Republicans prevailing in future contests.
The majority of Americans already vote using hand-marked paper ballots or touch-screen machines that produce a printed copy.
Trump and his supporters have been making the assertion that Democrats are “importing voters” in order to enable non-U.S. citizens to partake in U.S. elections.
During a rally in Iowa, President Trump expressed his concern about the inclusion of non-English speaking individuals in the country, suggesting that they were being encouraged to register and vote.
According to the Washington Post, election officials and law enforcement authorities have discovered instances of non-citizens voting or attempting to vote in the past. However, these cases have not had any significant impact on the outcome of any election.
According to PolitiFact, Democrats have made no efforts to register individuals in the country illegally.
According to PolitiFact, the majority of noncitizens are unwilling to take the risk of going to jail or facing deportation by voting in elections, especially if they are in the country unlawfully. Election officials implement various measures to ensure that only those who are eligible to vote are able to cast their ballots.
In 2022, the attorney general’s office in Georgia made an announcement stating that they had discovered a total of 1,634 cases of potential noncitizens registering to vote in the state since 1997. It is important to note that none of these individuals were allowed to vote.