Yuri Gripas/CNP/Zuma
With Iowa caucus results stalled as the state’s Democratic party performs “quality control” and addresses “inconsistencies,” Republicans are already alleging that the election is rigged. There is, of course, no evidence of that.
Brad Parscale, President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, took to Twitter Monday night to speculate that “quality control” meant “rigged,” echoing Trump’s repeated claims that the Democratic National Committee was rigging the election against Sen. Bernie Sanders. The president’s sons made similarly baseless claims:
And by “Quality Control” they mean fixing the results to get the candidate the Democrat Overlords in DC want. https://t.co/EkIztYHYuN
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 4, 2020
Mark my words, they are rigging this thing… what a mess. This is why people don’t want the #Dems running our county. #meltdown
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) February 4, 2020
Bogus allegations of election fraud have become a Republican mainstay in recent years, as the party seeks to restrict voting rights and suppress turnout.
For its part, Sanders’ campaign said earlier Monday that the election is “not currently rigged.”
Mandy McClure, communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, has called the delay a “reporting issue,” according to the New York Times. Many precinct chairs have had difficulties using a new app to report caucus results. Those problems are serious, but they don’t constitute a rigged election.
Listen to Mother Jones’ Ari Berman and Tim Murphy discuss the fallout from the Iowa voting debacle on this week’s special early edition of the Mother Jones Podcast:
