Benjamin Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer, is refuting claims about the possibility of widespread voter fraud in a new op-ed.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Ginsberg — who served as a key representative for four previous Republican presidential candidates — wrote that a “lack of evidence” regarding widespread voter fraud makes for a relatively “unsustainable” argument despite President Donald Trump and other Republican lawmakers’ claims.
“The truth is that after decades of looking for illegal voting, there’s no proof of widespread fraud. At most, there are isolated incidents — by both Democrats and Republicans. Elections are not rigged. Absentee ballots use the same process as mail-in ballots — different states use different labels for the same process,” Ginsberg wrote.
Ginsberg, who also played a critical role in the Bush v. Gore case in the 2000 general election, went on to explain how Trump’s rhetoric has been problematic for not only the Republican Party but also the upcoming election.
He also expressed concerns about the “antithetical” damage of the president deeming “elections ‘fraudulent’ and results ‘rigged.'”
“The president’s rhetoric has put my party in the position of a firefighter who deliberately sets fires to look like a hero putting them out,” he added. “Calling elections ‘fraudulent’ and results ‘rigged’ with almost nonexistent evidence is antithetical to being the ‘rule of law’ party.”
Ginsberg’s op-ed follows multiple claims and tweets the president has shared detailing his concerns about voter fraud and how it could play a part in the outcome of the upcoming election. Twitter has taken action multiple times to place fact check alerts on the president’s tweets about mail-in voting and voter fraud.
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The president’s re-election campaign, along with the Republican National Committee, have filed lawsuits in multiple states over mail-in voting. However, the president has not produced substantial evidence to support the claims.
In fact, a federal judge recently pushed back against Trump’s lawsuit in Pennsylvania and he ordered them to produce evidence to support their argument about mail-in voting.
District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote, “The Court finds that instances of voter fraud are relevant to the claims and defenses in this case.”