Despite the fact that his repeated claims of voter fraud are demonstrably false, President Donald Trump vowed to launch a “major investigation” into the matter during his latest Twitter rant. Yet aside from the many, many factual problems that exist with Trump’s latest effort at propaganda — like the fact that bipartisan election officials found “no credible allegations” of such fraud — it seems members of his own campaign are registered to vote in two states. This is not illegal in and of itself, but it’s one of the things Trump complained about as “evidence” of fraud.
According to Sarasota Herald-Tribune columnist Chris Anderson, former Breitbart executive turned Trump’s top advisor Steve Bannon is registered to vote in the Gulf Coast Florida city. Why? Because according to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office, Anderson determined Bannon owns property in the city and is therefore registered to vote there “effective Aug. 25.” The problem is Bannon is also registered to vote in New York City, where “according to a spokesman for the New York State Board of Elections, he voted there in November by absentee ballot.”
This isn’t the first time Bannon’s Sarasota home has brought accusations of voter fraud against him, as the issue made the rounds back in August. Yet the fact that Bannon is still apparently registered to vote in both states poses a problem for Trump’s continued accusations of voter fraud. What’s more, the conservative news site Heat Street is now reporting that the president’s daughter Tiffany Trump is also registered to vote in Pennsylvania and New York.
Philadelphia deputy election commissioner Fred Voigt told the blog “there is nothing illegal about that” since “the illegality only occurs if one votes in two places, not if you’re registered in both.” Sure enough, public records indicate Tiffany voted in New York City and not in Philadelphia, where she attended the University of Pennsylvania before graduating in may. Voigt added it’s “very common for college students to be registered both where they live and where they go to school.”
To make matters worse, CNN reported Trump’s Treasury secretary appointee Steven Mnuchin was also registered to vote in two states. With public records identifying his voter registration in California and New York, the banker’s case mirrors Bannon and Tiffany’s in that he only cast a single ballot. Even so, the fact President Trump specifically identified “those registered to vote in two states” as potential targets of his proposed voter fraud investigation makes Bannon and Tiffany’s situation all the more cumbersome for the new administration.
(Via Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Heat Street and CNN)