Trump, GOP allies escalate election fraud conspiracies in Pennsylvania

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday baselessly claimed that Pennsylvania is “cheating” at “large scale levels,” escalating his spread of election fraud conspiracies in this all-important swing state.

The Republican presidential nominee’s Truth Social post in the final week of the race dovetailed with a broader GOP effort to sow doubts about Pennsylvania’s election integrity.

The efforts are similar to what Trump and his allies claimed before the 2020 presidential election. Trump went on to lose Pennsylvania to President Joe Biden by 81,000 votes.

Now, with polls showing Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in a dead heat in the Keystone State, the GOP appears to be laying the groundwork to once again challenge the election results.

As in 2020, Trump’s playbook in Pennsylvania involves exaggerating and mischaracterizing any irregularities around the state’s election to bolster claims of widespread fraud.

“Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before. REPORT CHEATING TO AUTHORITIES. Law Enforcement must act, NOW!” Trump wrote in the Truth Social post Wednesday morning.

Two days earlier, Trump falsely claimed that Lancaster County was “caught” with “Fake Ballots and Forms” — even though officials there did not allege that any of the potentially fraudulent materials were actually votes.

The county says it is investigating up to 2,500 voter registration applications that were submitted around the state’s registration deadline. There are nearly 366,000 registered voters in Lancaster County.

In that same post, Trump also claimed that another part of the state, York County, also “received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT Voter Registration Forms and Mail-In Ballot Applications from a third party group.”

“Really bad ‘stuff.’ WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA??? Law Enforcement must do their job, immediately!!! WOW!!!” Trump wrote.

York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler said, “It’s not unusual to get large stacks of voter registrations or large stacks of requests for mail-in ballots,” local news outlet Fox43 reported Monday.

“It’s just this was an overabundance of registrations from one particular organization,” Wheeler said.

Election experts say instances of actual voter fraud are rare. Pennsylvania’s Republican Secretary of State Al Schmidt, the state’s top election official, told CBS News on Sunday that the commonwealth has taken extra steps to fortify election security in 2024.

But that has not stopped Trump and Republicans from raising alarms about the state’s elections operations.

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley alleged Monday on X that the commonwealth was beset by “voter suppression from the left.” His tweet included a video of a woman identified as a Trump supporter being handcuffed in Delaware County.

That same day, RNC lawyer Linda Kerns sent a letter to Schmidt, flagging reports of alleged “widespread election administration issues,” including voters being told that “computers are down.”

On Tuesday, the Trump campaign, the RNC and a group affiliated with GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick filed a lawsuit in Bucks County, accusing the county of “turning away voters.”

The Bucks County government, however, rebutted allegations that voters in line for mail-in ballots were being rejected.

Trump pushed his claims about Lancaster County further at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night.

“So if you have a mail in ballot, get that damn ballot in please, immediately, because, because they’ve already started cheating in Lancaster, they’ve cheated. We caught ’em with 2,600 votes,” Trump said. 

The former president has repeatedly urged law enforcement to take action. But investigations are already underway, Schmidt said in an election update Tuesday.

The commonwealth’s Department of State is in touch with York and Lancaster counties “to provide guidance to them as they conduct their investigations and will continue to support them as needed,” the Republican official said.

“Ultimately, the county election offices and the investigative law enforcement agencies will determine whether any criminal charges are warranted.”

Trump had repeatedly spread false fraud claims about Pennsylvania ahead of the 2020 election, as well.

He claimed in October 2020 that “thousands of ballots” with his name on them had been “dumped in dumpsters” and “garbage cans.”

In fact, officials said at the time that just nine ballots had been improperly discarded in Luzerne County, and that seven of them were marked for Trump.

Pennsylvania voters have been bombarded with political ads and messaging in the run-up to Election Day, creating an environment ripe for misinformation to spread.

For instance, a fake video showing a person ripping up Pennsylvania ballots recently went viral on social media.

Federal agencies warned Friday that the video was “manufactured and amplified” by Russian actors.