CNN's Jackie Kucinich: In-Person Voter Fraud “Isn't A Thing, But That's Not Stopping Donald Trump ... From Spreading This”

NY Times' Alex Burns: “There Is Simply No Indication That There Is Any Kind Of Systemic Problem With Voting In This Country”

From the October 17 edition of CNN's New Day:

Video file

CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): In terms of the substance of what he's saying, we direct people to the Brennan Center for Justice, 2007. To News 21. To the Philly Inquirer. All of which have vetted the idea of there being rampant fraud at the polls and the conclusion of each and all is it's just not true. What is your take?

JACKIE KUCINICH: Well, right. There's also that study that Loyola did where it found maybe 30 instances of actual voter fraud out of billions. This isn't a thing, but that's not stopping Donald Trump and Mike Pence, frankly, from spreading this. Yesterday on Meet the Press Mike Pence was asked whether they would accept the election results. He said, yes, but almost on the next breath he went back to the fact that this election is being rigged.

[...]

COUMO: Peaceful transfer of power. That's not what you're helping to motivate when you keep spreading doubt about the legitimacy of the process.

KUCINICH: Exactly. To Alisyn's point earlier, they haven't really offered any evidence, and so people are filling in the blanks themselves. That's why you see people quoted in various states that there might be violence. They're going to make sure that people who don't look like them are vetted or that they're going to watch them. It's troubling rhetoric coming out of the Trump campaign, and coming from down on the ground going into election day and let's not forget people are actually voting right now. So, it's not that there might be some fracas at the polls, but this is already happening. 

ALISYN CAMEROTA: Let's dive into the facts, OK, because as Chris said, there is this organization, this group, News 21, all the top journalism students from universities around the country and they did this exhaustive study to look at one issue for the year. They looked at it over a decade of voter fraud. And they really dove in and here's what they found. You know what's interesting is, yes, there is, there are isolated incidents, Alex. Everybody has an anecdote of some kind. Maybe an urban myth but some anecdote of seeing a bus full of people across a state border but here's what they truly found. Let's put it up for people. 146 million total registered voters. Out of those, there were 2,068 alleged voter fraud cases, OK, so it does happen. It's not bigfoot.  

CUOMO: The allegations have. 

CAMEROTA: OK. The allegations happen. And then there were 10 cases of voter impersonation reported. That's what voter ID Is supposed to -- 

CUOMO: Dead people voting. 

CAMEROTA: Sure, so, 10 cases. OK, out of the 146 million people. There's more. They drilled down on Arizona, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Kansas, that's where attorney generals actually prosecuted cases. So beyond allegations, they prosecuted 38 cases of voter fraud. 38 out of millions. In Arizona there were 13 cases of people prosecuted for double voting. 13. And this is over 10 years, by the way. This isn't one year, over 10 years. Then the Republican National Lawyers Association also looked at it themselves and they found 200 allegations of election fraud, again, over 10 years. 

CUOMO: Reported by news outlets. 

CAMEROTA: They basically got a compilation of news organizations from around the country they found 200 cases. So, does it ever happen? OK, occasionally it does happen, but it doesn't happen on a national scale. 

CUOMO: Doesn't affect the outcome. 

CAMEROTA: It would affect the outcome. 

ALEX BURNS: Right, and what you see in those numbers as well, is that when it happens it's usually not the kind of voter fraud that people imagine when they think of what happens when somebody steals an election. It's not people in a county courthouse stuffing ballots in a box or even showing up and me saying, hi, I'm Chris Cuomo. I'm here to vote. It's people voting in a jurisdiction where they're no longer technically registered or they haven't updated their registration, or they're in a primary where they're not supposed to be voting in a primary. Each of those infractions is something authorities, of course, ought to look at. But there is simply no indication that there is any kind of systemic problem with voting in this country. I spoke to the Ohio secretary of state yesterday who is a Republican who says we're trying hard to run a fair election here and this kind of talk just it takes time away from doing our actual and difficult jobs.

Previously

31 In A Billion: Election Expert's Report Shatters Right-Wing Media Voter ID Myths

CNN's Stelter: Media Should “Instill Confidence” In Election Following Trump's “Biggest Lie” That It Is “Rigged”

Jake Tapper Pushes Back On Rudy Giuliani's Dog Whistles About Election Fraud In “The Inner Cities”