Dear Friends-

As Trump and his allies continue to try to attack the results of this election and avoid the fact that he’s lost, the DNC War Room continues to help amplify the facts. 

In case you missed it, here are some important releases from the DNC War Room today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 11, 2020

**ICYMI**

Yet another report debunks the lies being told by Trump in his desperate attempt to create an alternate reality in which he didn’t lose the election by tens of thousands of votes in swing states, and more than 5 million votes and counting nationwide. State officials, election experts, and Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security agree that the election that ousted Trump “unfolded smoothly across the country and without any widespread irregularities.”

Associated Press: States cite smooth election, despite Trump’s baseless claims

By Christina A. Cassidy, Anthony Izaguirre and Julie Carr Smyth

The 2020 election unfolded smoothly across the country and without any widespread irregularities, according to state officials and election experts, a stark contrast to the baseless claims of fraud being leveled by President Donald Trump following his defeat.

Election experts said the large increase in advance voting — 107 million people voting early in person and by mail — helped take pressure off Election Day operations. There were also no incidents of violence at the polls or voter intimidation.

“The 2020 general election was one of the smoothest and most well-run elections that we have ever seen, and that is remarkable considering all the challenges,” said Ben Hovland, a Democrat appointed by Trump to serve on the Election Assistance Commission, which works closely with officials on election administration.

Following Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, Trump has sought to discredit the integrity of the election and argued without evidence that the results will be overturned. Republican lawmakers have said the president should be allowed to launch legal challenges, though many of those lawsuits have already been turned away by judges and those that remain do not include evidence of problems that would change the outcome of the race.

In Wisconsin, a battleground state where Biden narrowly edged Trump, top election official Meagan Wolfe said there were no problems with the election reported to her office and no complaints filed alleging any irregularities.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said the same was true in her state, which Biden also won.

“Let me be clear — the November elections in Michigan ran as smoothly as ever,” Nessel said, adding that there were no “instances of irregularities in the process of counting the votes, only evidence-free allegations, wild speculation, and conspiracy theories.”

[…]

The federal agency charged with leading efforts to secure U.S. elections has said there were no significant problems aside from small, ordinary glitches.

This year’s presidential election marked a significant step in the use of paper voting records, with more ballots being cast either on paper or with an electronic voting machine that generates a paper backup than in any previous election. The election was also the most transparent. Several election offices offered live webcams to show the ballot-review process and added the ability for voters to track their ballots through the process.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 11, 2020

Recount Reality Check: Biden’s Margins in Decisive States Far Exceed Recount Changes 

President-elect Joe Biden is on track to win states that total more than 300 electoral votes, already has a popular vote margin of more than five million and counting, and has leads of more than 10,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. With a legal “strategy” that’s falling flat, the Trump campaign now claims that recounts will change the outcome of this election. Like most of their post-election claims, this is completely without merit. The truth is that recounts almost never actually change the results of an election — especially when candidates have leads as big as President-elect Biden’s — and they barely even change the margins. The Trump campaign is only prolonging the inevitable. President-elect Biden received the most votes and won this election. 

It is “exceedingly rare” for recounts to change the outcome of elections and it requires “very narrow margins of victory.”

• FairVote Report: “Recounts which change the outcome of an election are exceedingly rare and require very narrow margins of victory.”

• Election Law Professor: “History shows that it’s very, very hard to overturn a statewide result that’s above a thousand votes in a recount scenario.”

• No statewide recount had changed the results of any election in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, or Arizona for at least two decades.

Statewide recounts over the past 20 years typically changed the end margins of elections by at most several hundred votes — far lower than the 10,000+ vote lead Biden has right now in critical states.
 

• On average, statewide recounts have shifted the winning margin by about 430 votes. 

• A 2004 Georgia judicial recount changed the end margin by only 15 votes.

• In Pennsylvania, a 2009 judicial recount changed the end margin by only 281 votes.

• A 2010 Arizona ballot initiative recount changed the end margin by only 66 votes.

• In Wisconsin, a Supreme Court election recount changed the final margin by only 312 votes.

In recent recounts that changed the outcome, the shift in vote margin was fewer than 1,000 votes. 

• In a 2004 Washington gubernatorial race, the two candidates were separated by less than 300 votes, with the recount changing the end margin by about 400 votes. 

• In a 2008 Minnesota Senate race, the two candidates were separated by less than 300 votes, with the recount changing the end margin by around 500 votes. 

The only two presidential recounts in the 21st century barely budged the margins, and neither changed the ultimate result.

• Florida’s infamous 2000 recount only moved the margin by about 1,247 votes, which is 1/10 as large as the smallest Biden battleground state margin. 

• Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: “After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court, there was a swing of 300 votes. After recount in 2016 Presidential race in WI, @realDonaldTrump numbers went up by 131. As I said, 20,000 is a high hurdle.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 11, 2020

 

**ICYMI**

The New York Times front page says it all: election officials across the country agree there is “no evidence that fraud or other irregularities played a role in the outcome of the presidential race.” Trump’s desperate lies won’t change the fact that President-elect Biden won the election by more than five million votes, is on track to secure 306 electoral votes, and will be sworn in as president on January 20.

New York Times: ELECTION OFFICIALS NATIONWIDE FIND NO FRAUD
 

Election officials in dozens of states representing both political parties said that there was no evidence that fraud or other irregularities played a role in the outcome of the presidential race, amounting to a forceful rebuke of President Trump’s portrait of a fraudulent election.

Over the last several days, the president, members of his administration, congressional Republicans and right wing allies have put forth the false claim that the election was stolen from Mr. Trump and have refused to accept results that showed Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the winner.

But top election officials across the country said in interviews and statements that the process had been a remarkable success despite record turnout and the complications of a dangerous pandemic.

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