Yahoo Finance Republicans, Democrats doubt fair election –poll
As the U.S. election draws nearer, Americans of all political stripes worry the Nov. 3 contest will be marred by fraud, interference, or efforts to suppress the vote.
That's according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday that found that about half of registered voters in the United States, including 80% of Republicans surveyed, say they are concerned that an increase in voting by mail will lead to widespread election fraud.
The finding suggests that a wide swath of the country may have trouble accepting the result of the election, which is expected to see a surge in mail-in voting due to health and safety concerns.
"... you look at article after article, 'New York's mail vote disaster.'"
President Donald Trump himself has refused to say he would accept official election results if he lost, and raised the idea of delaying the election, which he does not have the power to do.
After bipartisan pushback, he quickly reversed course.
"I don't want to delay, I want to have the election, but I also don't want to have to wait three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything."
Trump - who is trailing his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, in opinion polls - has been attacking the use of mail-in ballots for months.
On Friday, his spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, suggested that states won’t be ready to hold a fraud-free election, but evaded questions about supporting any proposals to help states secure the vote.
REPORTER: "You didn't answer my question though. My question is: what is the White House doing to get more resources for funding and staff to make sure, as the president says, that it will be a secure and safe election?"
MCENANY: "Well, as you know, Peter, states run their elections, and it is up to states to make sure..."
REPORTER: "And they're asking for more money."
MCENANY: "...that they have the capacity... States need to get their acts together when it comes to elections. And as we see in New York, where we're five weeks out from that election and in fact, we still don't know the outcome of a congressional race. And that is certainly not what we want to see in November.
REPORTER: "And I'm asking you about president. You said, you asked why I was asking about president. I'm asking about the president because you worked for the president.
MCENANY: "Yes."
REPORTER: "I guess the question is..."
MCENANY: "OAN."
Democrats and voting rights groups say mail-in voting is a way to protect voters' health, and that a failure to guarantee that option will disenfranchise millions of Americans, especially the poor and African Americans who tend to vote Democratic.
