Yahoo Movies Harvard Law Professor Dismantles Trump’s 'Vote Twice' Request With A Simple Analogy
President Donald Trump drew fierce backlash on Wednesday after encouraging supporters in North Carolina to vote twice in the 2020 election.
Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe used a simple analogy about a bank robbery to dismantle Trump’s request:
“I was just testing whether this state can detect voter fraud when I showed up to vote a second time”
— is about as good a defense as:
“I broke into the bank just to test whether it has a good alarm system.”— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 3, 2020
Trump, speaking at Wilmington International Airport, suggested voters test North Carolina’s election process by first casting their ballot by mail and then again in person.
“So let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote,” said Trump, who in recent weeks has ramped up his rhetoric against mail-in voting ― which multiple states are turning to because of the coronavirus pandemic ― and repeatedly warned without evidence that it leads to mass voter fraud.
It is illegal to cast more than one ballot in an election.
Check out Trump’s comments here:
Pres. Trump appeared to suggest that his supporters should commit voter fraud by attempting to vote both by mail and in person pic.twitter.com/zcvdzYCY8x
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 2, 2020
Tribe also accused Trump, who made a similar request to supporters before the 2016 election, of “committing a felony by urging North Carolinians to cast illegal second votes.”
Memo to Mr. Trump:
You’re committing a felony by urging North Carolinians to cast illegal second votes.
Not that you care. https://t.co/F12UD1BL61— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 3, 2020
Other critics on Twitter echoed Tribe’s concerns:
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How is it Trump’s idiocy & lawlessness can still shock the conscious? He’s encouraging citizens to break the law. On the upside, the “clean-hands” doctrine guarantees Trump will lose any challenge to the election results he brings in court. https://t.co/hpF7bhR6ju
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) September 2, 2020
Turns out, in fact, criminal voter fraud exists
In North Carolina, it's "unlawful...for any person with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote...more than 1 time, OR TO INDUCE ANOTHER TO DO SO" h/t @jgeltzer @JoshStein_ isn't this a crime in NC?
https://t.co/AWM8HhKn4N— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 3, 2020
Casting two ballots is illegal.
Don’t listen to the President.https://t.co/brFwhrYObs— ACLU (@ACLU) September 3, 2020
Um...this is illegal...
https://t.co/KnfgN8cgkc— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) September 2, 2020
Yeah, Donald Trump just called for his supporters to mail in their ballots and then to vote in-person. He's encouraging his supporters to commit voter fraud.pic.twitter.com/5a7lrzl6My
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) September 2, 2020
Trump encourages North Carolina residents to vote twice to test mail-in system. I shouldn’t have to tweet this but It is illegal to vote more than once in an election. https://t.co/lIYWs21SH2
— Ali Velshi (@AliVelshi) September 2, 2020
BREAKING NEWS: Trump Urges GOP Voters to Commit Felony Voter Fraud to Steal the Election, Falsely Claims It Would Act As a Test of American Democracy; in Fact, Scheme Would Either Cause Trump to Fraudulently Win Re-election or Let Him Call Any Loss Invalid https://t.co/QPIwMiz2Zp
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) September 2, 2020
Trump encourages North Carolina residents to vote twice to test mail-in system https://t.co/pGesGFCwXf via @nbcnews- in what world is this ok, in which country is this legal?!? Encouraging people to commit a federal crime?!? Are you FUCKING KIDDING, TRUMP?!?
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) September 2, 2020
The President just committed a felony.👀https://t.co/kgvMOCJYfz
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) September 2, 2020
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
