So let's talk about the idea that more people voted than were registered in some counties in critical states. There are many uninformed people on X (formally Twitter) who simply repeat the statement only because it has appeared in media reports. However, the idea that Trump claimed that more people voted than were registered to vote has been perpetuated many times. We have repeated it in our opinion pieces along with both Democrat and Republican politicians as well. All of this is oddly based on a December 22, 2020, Donald Trump Tweet that stated: "In certain swing states, there were more votes than people who voted, and in big numbers. Does that not really matter? Stopping Poll Watchers, voting for unsuspecting people, fake ballots and so much more. Such egregious conduct. We will win!" The News media and indeed Trump supporters interpreted this to mean that Trump claimed that more people voted than were registered to vote. Let's look at the key statement:"...there were more votes than people who voted...". What could that possibly mean? It's open for interpretation like so much of what Trump posts on social media. But one thing he did not say was more people voted than were registered. What he might have meant was that many precincts reported more votes than the population of that precinct. That could absolutely be true primarily because in many states in 2020 due to COVID people were allowed to vote without being registered. Many states mostly, blue states, managed registered voters differently in 2020. Several States did not even consider voter registration qualifications when accepting mail-in ballots and those who voted in person. Several states required only a utility bill as a qualification to vote.
The State Of Michigan
The state of Michigan, for example, allowed persons to vote if they had been registered to vote in the state at any time during the previous 10 years. In fact, the state of Michigan used the same criteria when distributing mail-in ballots. Anyone who had been registered to vote in the state of Michigan in the previous 10 years were sent ballots based on change of address requests with the US Postal Service. This not only resulted in persons getting multiple ballots based on previous addresses it also resulted in people who no longer lived in the state of Michigan being sent mail-in ballots. It is important to say that State officials deny this, however, the Postal Service initially validated the claim in Michigan and there were several Floridians who were former residents of Michigan who also verified they had received ballots after leaving Michigan a decade earlier.
We here at Reality Is Truth know personally an individual in Michigan who received four ballots, one for each of the addresses she had lived at in the previous decade. This could've easily resulted in more people voting in a precinct than the population of that precinct. In many states when reporting election results for the 2020 election, states did not use the term "Registered Voters", they instead adopted the term "Voting-Eligible". They've done this because as we said earlier, voter registration just wasn't a thing in 2020 due to COVID. Most voter registration numbers that are available from 2020 are post-voting numbers. Because, for instance, those who voted using their utility bill were automatically registered post-vote. So it is important to say here that the statement that more people voted than were registered is unanswerable and likely is why it keeps getting repeated.
The State of Arizona
State numbers are tough to interpret, primarily because 15 states, both Red and Blue, have a policy where they do not report raw data. They do not give the public or the federal government access to that raw data and do not maintain the raw data after the legal challenges are completed. States produce an "election report" where they provide the facts as they see them. Many times the facts reported are shocking. For instance, in Maricopa County, AZ, an audit concluded that as many as 168,000 votes were counted that had been double-inked and thus had misaligned names with ballot choices. Under the state's rules, they should not have been counted. Biden carried Maricopa County by 45,000 votes. This was the first time in 72 years that a Republican did not win Maricopa County. Biden ultimately won the state of Arizona by only 10,400 votes. However, you find a statement similar to this in many State election reports: "...while there was impropriety, it did not impact the outcome of the election." So here is the question: what state would ever admit that its election results were faulty and resulted in a candidate winning their state after having actually lost the election? The answer is Red or Blue, no State would.
Click through to see election fraud convictions from the Heritage Foundation's, Election Fraud Database:
But the bigger question here is does any of this really matter. The short answer to that question is NO. The Constitution of the United States gives states almost 100% autonomy on how they conduct their "Elections". The words Election, Ballot, or Vote are not defined in the Constitution. The word "vote" is part of the 15th Amendment however it only protects rights "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The word "vote" is not defined however, and doesn't even require a State to have a popular election. If you simply do not have a popular vote all of the Voter Rights Acts are rendered invalid. The ability of the Federal Government including the DOJ to impact how States conduct "Elections" is minimal. Those limits were solidified by the Supreme Court in 2013 when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was struck down because it limited some states' ability to run their own elections without the approval of the federal government.
Summary
If you want to support the integrity of elections in the United States you must do that at the State level. The State has almost all the power and has few requirements. The Reality is that States can legally conduct their elections unethically if they choose to do so, it's not unconstitutional for them to do that.
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Article 1 Section 1: The Executive Branch
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
Article 1 Section 4: Elections
The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
Article XV.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude—
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
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