Trump Attempts To Cast Doubt On Voting In Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA — President Donald Trump pulled Los Angeles County voters front and center into his effort to delegitimize the presidential election Wednesday, prompting a swift reply from the county’s registrar of voters.

It began Wednesday when the president tweeted a video of two county election workers retrieving bags of ballots from an official ballot drop box in Los Angeles purportedly filmed the day after the election.

Both the president and the woman who filmed the ballot collection process were troubled by the development.

“You are looking at BALLOTS! Is this what our Country has come to?” Trump tweeted along with the video.

The woman who filmed the ballot collection was equally distressed.

“I thought they collected them all. I just want to document it,” the woman says to the county election workers. “How come they already called the state?”

The state, with its 55 electoral votes, was called for President-Elect Joe Biden on Election Day because Biden was already ahead by millions in California in the early counting. It was an overwhelming lead that could not be overcome, prompting the Associated Press to call the race.

“These are mail-in ballots,” the worker explained to the woman behind the camera.

The woman continues to film the process while asking the men if they are “official election guys.” They showed the woman their badges and reminded her that she was not wearing a mask and asked her to maintain six-feet of social distancing.

Trump’s tweet, which was flagged by Twitter with a reminder that mail-in voting is safe and legal, garnered more than 7 million views within 24 hours.

As the president’s attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the vote in Los Angeles County spread, the county’s top election officials weighed in.

“RE: videos clips of ballots being collected from #LACounty Official Vote by Mail Drop Boxes — Yes, they are ballots; valid, legally cast ballots collected and processed by authorized election officials in accordance with the California Elections Code,” the County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk tweeted in reply. “All Drop Boxes were closed and locked at 8 p.m. on Election Night and ballots were collected the following day. These are valid ballots that will be processed and counted during the post-election canvass — like all outstanding vote by mail ballots.”

It’s not the first time Trump has attempted to cast doubt on the vote in California. As in 2016, Trump’s popular vote shellacking came at the hands of voters in California. As of Thursday afternoon, California’s ongoing vote tally has Biden winning with 10,401,707 votes to Trump’s 5,491,372. When he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016, the president blamed illegal voters in California for the loss. However, he never identified any specific instances of fraudulent voting in the state.