The top election official in the state of Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted (R), knocked President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will initiate a probe into voter fraud during the 2016 presidential election, saying Wednesday that he wishes Trump would “take a more constructive point of view” on the issue.
Husted, who has been accused of voter suppression in the past, told CNN that Ohio conducts investigation into voter fraud every two years and that while he feels it exists, it is rare and that probes should be left to the states.
“Well, look, this really should be done at the state level,” he said. “I don’t think that federal involvement is important in this particular matter because the states run the elections. We don’t want federal involvement in our elections. We want to keep this in the hands of the states. That’s where it should be. I’ll be interested to see what the president suggests as far as a review, but we already have one under way.”
He told host Carol Costello that Trump’s comments on voter fraud, which have cited debunked statistics, concern him.
“I’ve said this in the past, when the president talked about the election being rigged during the election, that’s when I came out and I publicly said, ‘Look, there’s no evidence of that.’ It’s a bipartisan process in Ohio. I know it’s a bipartisan process in other states. The system of elections in America is as good as it’s ever been.”
“I wish he would take a more constructive view,” he continued. “That’s what I’m doing, talking about the things can are being done, that can be done to build a better system. I think it’s my responsibility as a public official, chief elections official to build confidence in our system.”
Husted also replied to Trump directly in a tweet, giving the President suggestions on how to move forward.
We conducted a review 4 years ago in Ohio & already have a statewide review of 2016 election underway. Easy to vote, hard to cheat #Ohio https://t.co/OpDrPUX6Ev
— Jon Husted (@JonHusted) January 25, 2017
Suggestion 1: give states access to SAVE database to check for illegal registrants. https://t.co/OpDrPUX6Ev
— Jon Husted (@JonHusted) January 25, 2017
Suggestion 2: give states more authority to update voter rolls when people move/die. https://t.co/OpDrPUX6Ev
— Jon Husted (@JonHusted) January 25, 2017
