Trump takes issue with ballot counting in Colorado
Nominee questions voting system in another accusation of a ‘rigged’ election
GOLDEN, COLO.— Donald Trump has found a new reason to question the legitimacy of the 2016 election — ballots — and he wasted little time here Saturday before taking issue with the voting system in this largely vote-bymail state.
“I have real problems with ballots being sent,” Trump said, pantomiming a ballot collector sifting envelops and tossing some over his shoulder while counting others.
“If you don’t have a ballot, they give you another one and they void your one at home,” he told the crowd at an afternoon rally. “And then, of course, the other side would send that one in, too, but, you know, we don’t do that stuff. We don’t do that stuff.”
Trump’s repetitive accusations of a “rigged” election and a slanted electoral system are grounded in the belief that fraudulent behavior would only help his opponent.
Yet it was a Trump supporter in Des Moines who was charged Thursday with a Class D felony in Iowa, having sent in two absentee ballots, both supporting Trump. The voter, Terri Lynn Rote, told Iowa Public Radio that she had not planned to send in two ballots, but made a “spur of the moment” decision.
“The polls are rigged,” she added, repeating a line often said by Trump.
The Polk County attorney, John P. Sarcone, told Iowa Public Radio that it was one of the very few instances of voter fraud that he had come across in his more than three decades of service. And nationally, voter fraud is rare, despite Trump’s insistence.
Nonetheless, Trump seemed undeterred in his wariness of the security of ballots, despite the same process having been in place when Cory Gardner, a Republican, defeated the incumbent Democratic senator, Mark Udall, in 2014. Trump closed his rally by encouraging his supporters to “follow their ballots” to make sure they are registered and counted.
“You can follow your ballot, make sure that ballot is registered, make sure that ballot is counted,” he said, later adding: “I really think we’re gonna win Colorado and maybe win it big.”
The most recent polling out of Colorado, a Quinnipiac poll from two weeks ago, found that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, had a lead of eight points in the state.