Larsen: President Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims are a “ruse to suppress the right to vote” 

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) is calling on top election officials to put to bed President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of mass voter fraud in the 2016 Presidential election.

Larsen adds his support to top-Democratic Members of the House, Rep. Cummings, Rep. Robert Brady and Rep. Clyburn’s letters to election officials of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Members are requesting “all specific cases” of any “individual who cast a vote in the federal elections held in November 2016 [who] was legally prohibited from doing so.”

“This is just the latest ruse to suppress the right to vote,” said Larsen, Vice-Chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus. “There is no proof for President Trump’s claims that 3-5 million people committed voter fraud in the past election. The fact is the President lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes and, unfortunately, hurt egos do not create facts. If it takes an investigation to make clear what most folks already know – that voter fraud in this country is incredibly rare – I welcome it.”

Yesterday, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman confirmed that there was no evidence of illegal voting taking place anywhere in Washington state in the November election.

Last year, Larsen helped launch the first-ever Congressional Voting Rights Caucus to protect Americans’ fundamental right to vote. Larsen is a cosponsor of the America Votes Act of 2015, a bill that aims to combat voter ID laws by allowing voters to sign a sworn written statement attesting to their identity if they do not have the identification required at their polling place.

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