STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
If Democrats should win Tuesday's voting, their next task will be securing the vote.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Trump administration has used the federal government's power to highlight the president's constant claims of voter fraud. Today, a judge hears arguments over the administration's effort to force California to set aside some ballots. The administration wants that treatment for people it claims are likely not citizens. An appeals court last night declined to get involved in that case.
INSKEEP: NPR congressional reporter Eric McDaniel is here in Studio 31 to give us an update on how Democrats are preparing to respond to all this. Eric, good morning.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Good morning. Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK. What do the preparations look like?
MCDANIEL: Well, I'll just say, for Democrats and this constellation of good governance and nonpartisan groups, the election disruption effort is ongoing, right? They point to things like a million-dollar bounty offered by President Trump yesterday for election fraud tips that lead to a conviction, though it's unclear how or if that would be paid. Department of Justice lawsuits in Alaska and California, like you mentioned. The failed effort by the administration to restrict mail-in voting. It's all been the subject of legal fights and will be.
Next, these folks are worried about things like a federal election emergency declaration, which is something that doesn't exist in law - troops at the polls, illegal - or the president saying, without providing any evidence, that a foreign enemy has hacked voting machines. So they've been trying to link up with local election officials, pre-write legal filings and get all of their talking points ready to go out and say the truth, which is that people should feel comfortable casting their ballots.
INSKEEP: OK. Understand that. You just mentioned a number of things that the president might say or do that would be illegal if he said or did them. What is the pattern about how the president talks about elections?
MCDANIEL: Well, I mean, I think you've mentioned this. The president's claimed fraud in every election he's been involved with. Just for the benefit of folks who are too young to remember. In 2016, Trump said he'd won the popular vote - he just won the Electoral College - when you discount millions of illegal votes. In 2018, he claimed there was electoral fraud in states like Arizona. The January 6 insurrection was about fraud claims in the 2020 presidential election. He told CNN that there was rigging going on in 2024.
It goes on and on. Last week, I talked to Representative Jim Himes. He's a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, the ranking member there. He reminded me that he was actually in the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection and said it would be irresponsible for him and other Democrats not to be ready to combat fraud efforts.
INSKEEP: And I guess we should just mention once again, even the president's allies have never been able to substantiate the various claims of voter fraud in 2020 and other elections. But how does the White House describe what it's doing this time around?
MCDANIEL: Well, they say all of their work is to secure elections, which I should point out election experts say is already secure. Folks trust elections and election officials. I spent a good amount of time, though, this year reporting on the effort to get the SAVE America Act passed, which the White House claimed would protect the election by restricting mail-in voting and requiring folks to show proof of their citizenship status in order to stay registered to vote. It failed due to a lack of Republican support in the Senate. Earlier this month, a reporter actually pressed the president on if he would honor the results. Listen to this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What do you think the answer is to that?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I don't know, Mr. President.
TRUMP: What do you...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I'm asking you.
TRUMP: Of course I will. But we don't want cheating.
MCDANIEL: And he went on to talk about - I don't want cheating. I don't want cheating - in an extended back-and-forth, which is part and parcel for how he's talked about this the whole time. And again, just to make it really explicit, there has never been credible evidence of voter fraud anywhere near the level to impact results of elections in the United States.
TRUMP: NPR congressional reporter Eric McDaniel, thanks so much.
MCDANIEL: Thanks, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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