States play defense amid Trump’s latest election fraud claims

Officials in states across the country are playing defense against President Trump’s election fraud claims as he doubles down ahead of the midterms. 

In remarks to the nation last week, Trump claimed to see “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.” He cited a 2020 voter registration case in Michigan, and he swiped at California, where he suggested the state’s mail-in ballots were “floating aimlessly.” 

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ahead of the remarks also said the agency found thousands of noncitizens on voter rolls in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. 

On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) confirmed that a software error affecting the state’s motor vehicle department in 2023 and 2024 led to the voter registration of about 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens. Sherrill said she was “appalled” by the “reckless failures that allowed this to happen,” but she shrugged off Trump’s alarm as she stressed that officials were taking every step to protect election integrity.

“As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections,” she said. “The difference is simple: When we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies. We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public.”

Sherrill joins a chorus of election officials and experts in the states targeted by Trump who have hit back sharply against his accusations, defending their election systems and seeking to reassure voters just 100 days out from the high-stakes midterms. 

“The best way that we’ve seen to combat Trump’s election lies is for local election officials to explain in a clear way directly to voters what’s going on, to point out the measures that assure that elections are secure, that the processes are transparent,” said Rick Hasen, a political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Law........

© The Hill