Trump suggested sending law enforcement to the polls. Can he do that?

Sidebar

The Washington Post

News, True Crime, Politics

4.1 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2020

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Faith in the U.S. electoral system is one of the most important fundamentals of this country’s democracy.

And this year, it’s being tested in unprecedented ways.

Some of those challenges are emerging from the rhetoric of the president himself. President Trump has discredited mail-in voting, suggested rampant voter fraud and said he might not accept the results of the election.

Most recently, Trump has threatened to use law enforcement officers to patrol polling places.

In an interview last week with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump said,“We’re going to have everything. We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement, and we’re going to hopefully have U.S. attorneys and we’re going to have everybody, and attorney generals. But it’s very hard."

The suggestion raised concerns about voter intimidation and voter suppression.

And while reporting suggests the president isn’t actively making plans to send federal law enforcement to polls, it raised significant questions about whether he could, and the other ways his words could have implications for what Americans can expect at polling places in November.

So can Trump actually do this? Can Trump send law enforcement to the polls on Election Day? And if not, are there consequences for our voting system when the president even threatens to do so?

On this episode of“Can He Do That” podcast, election law expert Rick Hasen and reporter Rosalind Helderman explain what the RNC is planning for Election Day and how today’s laws apply.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Faith in the U.S. electoral system is one of the most important fundamentals of this
0:06.9	country's democracy.
0:08.7	And this year, it's being tested in unprecedented ways.
0:12.4	Some of those challenges are emerging from the rhetoric of the president himself.
0:16.5	President Trump has discredited mail-in voting.
0:18.9	Mail ballots, they cheat, okay?
0:21.0	People cheat.
0:22.0	Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters.
0:25.5	They go and collect them.
0:26.7	They're fraudulent in many cases.
0:29.1	They rampant voter fraud.
0:30.8	This will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country.
0:35.9	And we cannot let this happen.
0:39.1	They want it to happen so badly.
0:43.2	And said he might not accept the results of the election.
0:46.1	Can you give a direct answer?
0:47.3	You will accept the election?
0:48.3	I have to see.
0:49.3	Look, I have to see.
0:50.3	Oh, I'm not going to just say yes.
0:52.2	I'm not going to say no to it.
0:53.2	And I didn't last time either.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.