Election integrity advocate supports Trump’s claims

(The Center Square) – An Illinois election integrity advocate says President Donald Trump's recent address alleging intelligence failures and foreign interference in the 2020 election reinforces concerns her organization has documented for years about election administration in Illinois.

Carol Davis, an election integrity advocate who said she has served as a poll watcher, deputy voter registrar, election trainer and Illinois election judge, said she witnessed voters arriving at polling places during the 2020 election only to be told electronic poll books showed they had already cast vote-by-mail ballots.

"As I worked the polls, many voters arrived ready to vote, only to be informed that the e-poll books indicated that they had already cast a vote-by-mail ballot," Davis said. "Those in-person voters were made to cast provisional ballots, which may or may not have been counted later."

Davis said members of her election integrity network reported similar experiences beyond Illinois.

"Throughout our national election integrity network, state after state revealed that the same anomalies occurred in their states, not only in 2020, but in subsequent elections," she said.

During a nationally televised address last week, Trump alleged that intelligence gathered by the FBI in 2020 regarding Chinese election-related activities was withheld from him by government officials. He claimed raw intelligence indicated China attempted to manufacture illegal ballots for then-candidate Joe Biden and said intelligence reports concerning China's election targeting were excluded from his presidential briefings.

Trump also alleged that intelligence analysts "deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing" to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election and claimed an FBI official described operating a "shadow government" to prevent information about alleged election interference from becoming public.

He further referenced the discovery of "burn bags" containing documents that he said had not been properly destroyed, attributing the failure to what he called gross incompetence.

Davis said Trump's remarks underscore what she views as ongoing election security concerns.

"The national security failings in U.S. elections are real and urgent," Davis said. "Full, immediate, and bipartisan attention must be focused on resolving these issues. The future of our nation is at stake."

Trump's allegations have prompted renewed discussion among election integrity advocates.

Many of the claims he referenced regarding the 2020 election have been disputed by election officials, and multiple investigations and court cases following the election did not find evidence of widespread fraud claims Trump continues to make.