Mail-in voting during a presidential election is a “recipe for disaster,” Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett stated Friday.
In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” Jarrett hit back at those in the media who reacted with “hysteria” when President Trump raised the issue of legitimacy “in the form of a question, for goodness sakes.”
TRUMP DEFENDS ELECTION-DELAY TWEET, CITES MEDIA REPORTS ON MAIL-IN BALLOT PROBLEMS
“Predictably, the media ran around with its hair on fire,” he said. “One journalist said, ‘the president has crossed the election integrity rubicon.'”
“I mean, you’ve got to laugh at the hyperbole and hysteria,” added Jarrett.
The president made waves on Thursday after tweeting the 2020 presidential election could be “fixed” and “rigged” because of suspected risks in plans for nationwide, universal mail-in ballots.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” he wrote.
Trump also warned delays in tabulating mail-in ballot results, including from lost ballots, could mean the election winner wouldn’t be known for weeks or even months after Election Day.
“Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!” he tweeted later the same day.
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Following the backlash, the president doubled down on his position at a White House news briefing, telling reporters he doesn’t want an erroneous result.
“You’re sending out hundreds of millions of universal mail-in ballots. Hundreds of millions. Where are they going? Who are they being sent to? It’s common sense,” he said. “I want an election, and a result, much more than you. I think we’re doing very well. … I don’t want to see a rigged election.”
President Trump voted by mail in the last Florida Republican primary.
In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifically recommends states “encourage mail-in methods of voting if allowed in the jurisdiction” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
King County election workers collect ballots from a drop box in the Washington state primary, Tuesday, March 10, 2020 in Seattle. Washington is a vote-by-mail state. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
While delayed election results are common in a few states where elections are already conducted largely by mail — like Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah — a presidential election hasn’t been left in limbo since 2000.
In 2017, the Brennan Center for Justice ranked the risk of ballot fraud at infinitesimal 0.00004 percent to 0.0009 percent, based on studies of past elections.
“Look, all you have to do is look at several of the studies that have examined this: the Honest Elections Project, the Heritage Foundation Study. Even the special commission co-chaired by Jimmy Carter several years ago called this a recipe for disaster,” Jarrett told host Brian Kilmeade.
According to Jarrett, the reason is that registration lists are “notoriously unreliable and outdated,” even sending ballots to the deceased.
“You know, in Paterson, New Jersey, you had 800 ballots bundled together and returned to election officials. Several people indicted. In King County, Washington, 13,000 ballots were listed as undeliverable; 300,000 ballots were unknown,” he said.
“So this is, again, ripe for election fraud and the evidence demonstrates it,” Jarrett concluded.
With fewer than 100 days remaining before Nov. 3, 2020, in a new Fox National special with “Hannity” host Sean Hannity will discuss what a Joe Biden victory would mean for the nation. Hosted by Jarrett, the program will be available for free on Fox Nation and stream live Friday at 7 p.m. ET on Fox News Digital and all Fox News social media platforms.
Fox News’ Jack Durschlag and The Associated Press contributed to this report.