The Republican city commissioner of Philadelphia on Wednesday dismissed allegations of election fraud in the city, which he said have “no basis in fact at all.”
Al Schmidt, a former senior analyst at the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, told CNN that despite claims from President Donald Trump and his allies, the city “had the most transparent and secure election in the history of Philadelphia.”
Host John Berman asked Schmidt: “What evidence of any widespread fraud have you seen in the count in Philadelphia?”
Schmidt said he has not seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud in the city.
“I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all and see them spread,” he said, noting that while he can understand people being unhappy with the election’s outcome, he can’t figure out “how hungry people are to consume lies and to consume information that is not true.”
Schmidt noted in particular the allegation that “dead voters” were found to have cast ballots, and said that after election officials checked each dead voter they found that “not a single one of them voted in Philadelphia after they died.”
He added that voters should be “mindful that there are bad actors who are lying to them.”
Schmidt said that voters, “need to turn to people that they trust and to sources of information that they trust and not rumors and not nonsense included in lawsuits or anything else like that to make sure that they have confidence in this system and that their vote, regardless of who they voted for, is going to be counted.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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