Face of Nation : As President Donald Trump ramps up his reelection for 2020 he is resurfacing an unsubstantiated gripe from 2016: That voter fraud cost him support.
At rallies and on Twitter, the president has renewed calls for voter ID laws, revisited unproven claims that a large number of people voted fraudulently and signaled that, until those issues are resolved, other pending election measures are going nowhere.
Trump hammered the theme during a New Hampshire rally this week, repeating a claim – dismissed by his allies and critics alike – that thousands of people fraudulently voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton there. Clinton won the state by fewer than 3,000 votes.
“It’s also time for Democrats to join with us to protect the sacred integrity of our elections by supporting voter ID,” Trump said to robust applause in Manchester.
Days earlier, Trump wrote in a tweet that no other election security measures pending in Washington should move forward unless voter ID laws are addressed first. Voter ID laws have drawn sharp opposition from Democrats and good government groups who note voter fraud is uncommon and say requiring IDs can disenfranchise some voters.
“No debate on Election Security should go forward without first agreeing that Voter ID must play a very strong part in any final agreement,” Trump posted on Twitter this week.
