August 25, 2020

By Emily Singer

American Independent Foundation

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attacked his House Democratic colleagues for wanting to make sure every vote in the 2020 election is counted.

Jordan made the attack during a congressional hearing on Monday with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, whose changes to the U.S. Postal Service operative procedure have caused so many delays that even the service is warning Americans their mail-in ballots may not be counted due to slowdowns.

“We know what this is about. We all know what this is about,” Jordan said, referring to the hearing the House Oversight Committee was holding to demand answers from DeJoy about why mail has been delayed since he took the helm of the agency.

“This is about these guys wanting chaos and confusion, because I think they know this, I think they know that on election night President Trump’s going to win,” Jordan continued. “They know that on Election Day, the vote count on Election Day, President Trump’s going to win, and they want to keep counting — six weeks, four weeks, Iowa Caucus … that’s what they want.”

Jordan did not explain why counting every ballot sent through the mail would be bad.

However, it’s a window into the strategy Donald Trump and Republicans may employ after Election Day.

Trump — who is currently an underdog in his reelection quest, trailing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by more than 9 points nationally — has been working for weeks to try and delegitimize mail-in ballots.

States across the country are making it easier for their residents to vote by mail, as it’s a safer alternative to in-person voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donald Trump has lied multiple times, saying that voting by mail is rife with fraud and subject to international interference — neither of which are true.

Trump has even admitted publicly that he doesn’t want to help fund the Postal Service because if the agency doesn’t have enough money, then states cannot hold all-mail elections.

Election experts, as well as Democrats, are warning that Trump may try to accuse the 2020 election of being fraudulent because mail-in ballots will take a while to count.

Those experts add that in-person voting may favor Trump, and that as mail-in ballots are counted, Trump’s lead could evaporate and cause him to lose.

Jordan’s comments on Monday gave a look into how Trump and his surrogates may react, demanding that only the Election Day tally is counted and that the mail-in ballots be discounted in order to ensure Trump wins the election.

Trump already demanded that once before, in 2018, when close races for Senate and governor in Florida took a while to certify.

“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” Trump tweeted in 2018.

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