9:49 p.m. ET, October 15, 2020
Fact check: Trump falsely claims "thousands of ballots" were found in dumpsters
From CNN's Paul Murphy
President Donald Trump speaks during an NBC News Town Hall, at Perez Art Museum Miami on Thursday.
Evan Vucci/AP
President Trump expanded on a false claim that he’s made previously, saying that “thousands of ballots” had been found in dumpsters.
“Thousands of them are dumped in dumpsters and when you see ballots with the name Trump — military ballots, from our great military, and they’re dumped in garbage cans,” the President said in the NBC town hall.
He went on to claim that the “thousands of ballots” were found with “my name on it.”
Facts First: This is false. There have been two incidents where ballots were found in a dumpster or trash can: 99 ballots heading to voters in New Jersey and nine ballots “incorrectly discarded” by a temporary worker in Pennsylvania.
In New Jersey,
the Justice Department charged a mail worker with two felonies for tossing 1,875 pieces of mail that included 99 ballots in two dumpsters. The ballots, which were being sent to voters, were immediately delivered after the US Postal Service learned about them being tossed in the trash.
This isn’t the first time the President has lied about ballots being found in the trash.
He’s repeatedly lied about ballots being found in a trash can in Pennsylvania.
According to federal and local authorities,
an election worker improperly threw out nine military ballots in Luzerne County. The Justice Department initially said all nine ballots were marked for Trump, then deleted its initial statement and issued a new one saying seven were Trump votes. Local officials said they would try to reach the affected voters and fix the ballots.