Former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, escalated their false attacks about the security of the Pennsylvania elections on Thursday, ramping up baseless accusations about voter fraud that could erode confidence of the results in one of the most critical battleground states.
On Thursday Mr. Trump posted on his social media site that Pennsylvania was “cheating” and breaking the law. He called for prosecutions, though he made no specific allegations. Earlier in the day, Mr. Vance seized on deceptive posts online claiming that Democratic Party volunteers were impersonating election officials at polling sites.
The remarks followed a script similar to the final days of his 2020 campaign, when the former president spread dozens of falsehoods about voting before trying to overturn the election. This year, he is focusing most of his false claims on Pennsylvania, the battleground state with the most Electoral College votes and where polls show him tied with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Throughout the past week, election officials in Pennsylvania have been rebutting specious claims of fraud while also reporting when systems flagged suspicious activity, informing voters of issues and enforcing the law where necessary. This is the system working exactly as it should, they have said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who served as Pennsylvania’s attorney general during the 2020 election, criticized Mr. Trump this week for spreading false claims about the state’s elections.
“Let’s remember, in 2020, Donald Trump attacked our elections over and over,” Mr. Shapiro said in a post on social media. “He’s now trying to use the same playbook to stoke chaos, but hear me on this: we will again have a free and fair, safe and secure election — and the will of the people will be respected.”
