Trump Hits Early Voting: Who Knows What Happens When Polls Are ‘Locked’

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Hy-Vee Hall, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

It’s been more than a month, but President-elect Donald Trump is still raising questions about the presidential election.

In what was supposed to be a stump speech for Republican Louisiana Senate candidate John Kennedy in Baton Rouge Friday, Trump took aim at early voting during the presidential election, saying that no one can know what is happening when polling places are locked up for the night.

Trump spent a bulk of his speech talking about his own policies and victories, treating it like a stop on his “thank you” tour. He covered everything from his now-friendly relationship with President Obama, which elicited some boos from the crowd, to his winning of Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” which he said was too politically correct and should be changed back to “Man of The Year.”

In the middle of discussing his win in November, Trump seemed to imply that he would work to limit early voting, taking a crack at how many he apparently saw in line to vote early in Florida, making air quotes to assert that he didn’t think polling places were adequately secured.

“I passed a line and I said, ‘what’s happening over there?’ I thought it was a big movie. They said, ‘no, sir, that’s voting. They’re voting,’ and they’re voting like really early. And we have to discuss that early thing. That’s sort of — so many things are going on. So many things. Wonder what happens during the evening when those places are ‘locked’, right?”

Trump did not expressly say what he would do about early voting or if he would work to limit it, but said that Democrats would criticize him for talking about it.

“But the Democrats or the people would say ‘Donald Trump is criticizing the foundations of our country,'” he mocked. “Give me a break. Give me a break. Give me a break.”

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. I am beginning to wonder if there will even be a 2020 presidential election, in any meaningful sense of the word. Will Trump and his phalanx of generals find a way to cancel or otherwise negate it? Anything seems possible now.

  2. ThEyre lockEd at NighT, but blaCk peopLe always are breakiNg and enteriNg and probably VoTE whilE they’re lookinG for stuFF to steaL.

  3. Donald “the draft dodging coward” Trump has such a criminal mind set, he sees locked polling places as targets of opportunity. He’ll remember that in 20220. Sad.

  4. Dark Donnie. Dark Times for America. Very Dark.

  5. It’s too bad he didn’t do the “give me a break” thing more before the election. I can’t tell you how nauseating it is to a Southerner like myself.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

74 more replies

Participants

Avatar for daled Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for innerchild Avatar for ajm Avatar for silvrfox Avatar for rxbusa Avatar for pickwick Avatar for jdkahler Avatar for commiedearest Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for inversion Avatar for chuck_voellinger Avatar for okay Avatar for theghostofeustacetilley Avatar for deputydawg Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for darrtown Avatar for tena Avatar for birdford Avatar for greysea Avatar for cub_calloway Avatar for demosthenes59 Avatar for betorah Avatar for topknot60

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: