Pennsylvania Says Trump ‘Empty-Handed’ in Proving Ballot Fraud

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump's campaign failed to produce evidence that measures taken by Pennsylvania election officials to facilitate mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud, the state's top election official told a judge.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, asked a federal judge on Sunday to dismiss challenges by the campaign and the Republican National Committee to the use of unmanned drop boxes for absentee ballots and the easing of rules on signature-matching.

Boockvar said Trump and the RNC, which sued in June, had their chance to identify widespread fraud stemming from mail-in ballots during the state's primary and couldn't do so.

They “have come up empty-handed in their quest to substantiate their allegations of looming voter fraud in connection with mail-in voting,” she said in a court filing that accused the Trump campaign and RNC of trying to “suppress votes on the basis of unsubstantiated fears.”

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Boockvar said no evidence had been produced to the court to show that unmanned drop boxes “invite a constitutionally significant amount of voter fraud” or that voters “routinely engage in criminal activity by casting ballots containing fraudulent signatures.”

Trump has claimed that a surge in use of mail-in ballots as a result of the pandemic will lead to a “rigged” election, although his campaign and the RNC have failed to produce evidence in lawsuits filed across the U.S. Republicans have instead pointed to isolated incidents, including a recent probe into nine military absentee ballots that were allegedly discarded in Pennsylvania, though state officials say the disposal was a mistake -- not fraud.

Boockvar also asked the court to throw out a challenge to restrictions on so-called poll watchers. The Trump campaign has sought to recruit an “army” to supposedly monitor voters and poll workers for possible fraud. Many officials fear such poll watchers will mainly serve to illegally intimidate voters.

The campaign failed to produce “one iota of evidence” that sufficient poll watchers could have corrected any in-person voter fraud, she said.

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