FLASHBACK: Jerry Nadler Once Said 'Paper Ballots Are Extremely Susceptible to Fraud’
Democrat's view on mail-in voting has changed
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As President Donald Trump continues to call out the dangers of mail-in voting, one high-ranking Democrat would've probably agreed with him if it were 16 years ago at least.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who helped lead the impeachment fight against Trump in 2019, said in 2004 he was strongly opposed to paper-based ballots during a Capitol Hill hearing.
A C-SPAN video clip shows lawmakers examining perceived voting problems in an Ohio election; one of those problems was paper-based ballots.
A member of the public spoke in support of paper ballots, arguing that research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed hand-counted paper ballots to be “among the most reliable” voting methods.
But Nadler disagreed.
“Paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud,” he said.
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“And at least with the old clunky voting machines that we have in New York, the deliberate fraud is way down compared to paper," Nadler said.
“When the machines break down, they vote on paper – they’ve had real problems,” he added.
“There’s gotta be a way of getting the best of our methodologies.”
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But the woman carried on with her support of paper ballots.
“At least if there’s a miscount you can discover it,” she said.
“You can’t discover miscounts with these machines.”
Nadler offered an “optical scan with paper” solution; one was that paper ballots could be scanned electronically.
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“I want a paper trail, I want paper somewhere,” Nadler said.
“But pure paper with no machines? I can show you experience which would make your head spin.”
In July, President Donald Trump warned that mail-in voting could lead to the most "corrupt election" in US history.
The president said mail-in voting could jeopardize the accuracy of the coming November election.
Trump wrote on Twitter at the time:
“Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation’s History! #RIGGEDELECTION."
Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation’s History! #RIGGEDELECTION
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2020
More recently, Attorney General William Barr warned those pushing for mass mail-in voting in the run-up to the November election are restricting public confidence.
"This is playing with fire. We’re a very closely divided country here," Barr said.
"And if people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and people trying to change the rules to this methodology, which, as a matter of logic, is very open to fraud and coercion, is reckless and dangerous," Barr stated.
