Trump threatens to jail election officials for fraud
Photo: US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (Getty Images)
US election administrators and the campaign for presidential candidate Kamala Harris have condemned Donald Trump’s threats to imprison corrupt election officials if he wins the November 5 election, according to Reuters.
Administrators and Harris’s campaign have accused the Republican candidate of intimidation and incitement to potential violence. This reaction follows Trump’s recent social media post threatening to hold election officials accountable for election fraud.
Trump’s threats
On Saturday, September 7, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, threatening legal action against individuals involved in election fraud for the 2024 election.
Trump stated: “We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON'T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”
The Republican also reiterated his baseless claim that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was due to fraud — a message he delivered to supporters before the deadly January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Since his 2020 defeat, Trump has repeatedly made false claims that election workers fraudulently denied him victory, leading to numerous threats against them.
Reactions from campaigns and election officials
Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and the secretary of state in the battleground state of Arizona, called Trump’s post tyrannical and warned it could incite political violence.
“Sadly, security is now one of the main considerations in election administration. Trump's comments give the potential for bad actors to take them as a call to arms. We need to protect our election officials and our poll workers. We need to be prepared for just about anything,” Fontes told Reuters.
Seth Bluestein, a Republican member of Philadelphia's Board of Elections, commented: “Every election official I know will be focused on doing their job well, which unfortunately includes preparing for threats of violence.”
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign's national press secretary, stated: “President Trump believes anyone who breaks the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including criminals who engage in election fraud. Without free and fair elections, you can't have a country.”
Amman Moussa, a Harris spokesperson, described Trump’s comments as “extreme and unhinged.” “Donald Trump is further ratcheting up his dangerous threats of revenge and retribution,” Moussa said.
Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's Secretary of State and a Democrat, responded to Trump’s Saturday post on X: “My duty - and that of every election official in this nation - is to rise above the noise and continue to ensure our elections are fair, secure, accessible, and that the results are accurate. No amount of lies, delusions, or threats will distract us from that purpose.”
Michella Huff, elections director in Surry County, North Carolina, expressed concern that such comments from Trump might deter excellent volunteers from working at the polls.
US presidential election
The US presidential election will take place on November 5. The main candidates are Kamala Harris from the Democratic Party and Donald Trump from the Republican Party.
Two months before the election, candidates have almost equal chances of winning.
The future of the race will likely depend on the first round of debates, scheduled for September 10 on ABC News.
Today, Harris and Trump view Pennsylvania as a key battleground.
Meanwhile, US intelligence has determined that Russia is subtly advancing Trump’s candidacy for president.
