Trump campaign asks Pennsylvania counties for key election information: report
The Trump campaign asked three counties in Pennsylvania for details on their election security plans, including ballot storage and transportation details, according to a report Tuesday by NBC News.
NBC reported that a volunteer for the campaign asked Cumberland, Mercer, and Montour counties for the details. All of the counties are delaying canvassing mail-in ballots until Wednesday morning.
Pennsylvania is a key contest in the presidential election important to the electoral math for both campaigns.
President Trump has repeatedly criticized the process of vote-counting in the state, suggesting without evidence that there is likely to be increased fraud because of the use of mail-in ballots.
The state is also the site of a legal battle. The Supreme Court last week denied a GOP request to speed up the consideration of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that upheld the state’s mail ballot due date extension. The extension allows Pennsylvania to accept mail ballots sent by Election Day and received up to three days later.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign told NBC News that the request to the three counties was made to evaluate differences in voting processes across jurisdictions.
The spokesperson said that due to a "slew of Democrat efforts to change election rules at the last minute, and the resulting pressure on election officials," the Trump campaign wants to "understand how and what officials are planning as a result."
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Trump won Pennsylvania by a narrow margin in 2016. Polls indicate he’s trailing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, though the race in the state is seen as close.
Last month, the Trump campaign was reportedly videotaping voters in Philadelphia as they were dropping off their mail-in ballots.
Linda Kerns, a lawyer for the campaign, complained that a campaign representative had surveilled voters depositing two or three ballots at a drop box. She requested footage from around City Hall, and that those ballots be set aside “until an investigation can determine whether the ballots were personally delivered by voters.”
