Trump's claims of 'voter fraud' are to deny upcoming Democrats win, Krugman warns

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If the Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives during next month's midterm elections, Republicans may simply claim that the win is due to voter fraud, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has warned.

In a series of tweets, New York Times columnist Mr Krugman wrote that if Democrats win the house, “we'll be facing a nightmarish political scene.”

Mr Krugman explains that President Donald Trump is planting seeds of doubt in advance of the midterm election by telling Americans that voter fraud is a major issue. Mr Trump has tweeted multiple times about his belief that voter fraud influences election results. However, there is no significant evidence that voter fraud is occurring on any considerable scale, CNN reported.

In the past, the Fox News show Fox and Friends has claimed that 5.7 million non-citizens illegally voted in the 2008 election. This claim has been debunked repeatedly.

Mr Trump also claimed that millions voted illegally in the 2016 election, potentially costing him the popular vote. Factcheck.org has debunked this claim as well, and noted that he has made many “bogus” claims of voter fraud.

Other critics argue that Mr Trump’s tweet warning about the consequences of voter fraud is actually an intimidation tactic—ultimately a form of voter suppression. Because Mr Trump points out the civil and criminal penalties of voting illegally, some may feel too scared of the penalties to vote.

Earlier this year, a Texas woman was sentenced to five years in prison for voting illegally in the 2016 election, despite the fact that, she claims, she had never been told that she was not allowed to thanks to a prior conviction.

Mr Krugman writes about politics, economics, and other topics on his New York Times blog. He has also covered the Trump administration extensively.