As Democrats Urge Fair Elections, Trump Threatens to Send Law Enforcement to the Polls

Chris Kleponis/CNP/Zuma

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.While Democrats spent the final night of the Democratic National Convention calling for equal access to the right to vote, President Trump was on the phone with Sean Hannity, perpetuating the myth of voter fraud and threatening to send law enforcement to the polls.
For weeks, Trump has been playing up the (nonexistent) threat of voter fraud while sabotaging the United States Postal Service to boost his chances in November. But when asked on Fox News’ Hannity what he would do to prevent voter fraud, Trump didn’t turn to typical voter suppression tactics like ID requirements. Instead, he suggested something closer to voter intimidation.
“We’re gonna have everything,” he said. “We’re gonna have sheriffs and we’re gonna have law enforcement and we’re going to have, hopefully, US attorneys, and we’re going to have everybody, and attorney generals.”

Trump says that on election day he’s going to send law enforcement to polling locations pic.twitter.com/OpaYvUBY8P
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 21, 2020

Around the same time Trump was on Hannity, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was delivering a tribute to the late civil rights icon John Lewis at the DNC.
“There are those who are disgracefully using this pandemic to spread misinformation and interfere with voting,” she said, “forcing many in 2020 to still risk their lives to exercise their sacred right to vote, a right that has already been paid for with the blood, sweat, tears, and lives of so many. So let’s stand up for our children, our children’s children, and for this great democracy that our ancestors worked to build, and let’s vote.”