Voter fraud rampant and covered up, say Republican supporters

Donald Trump greet's supporters at a Colorado rally. Picture / AP

For months, Donald Trump has insisted that the electoral system is rigged against him and that he could lose because of voter fraud. But how exactly would that happen?

At a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Dave Radtke, 66, said he expects Democrats will load people on buses in Chicago and bring them to Wisconsin to vote, where legal residents are allowed to register on election day.

Josh Eilers, 22, said he expects Democrats will go to Chicago and pay homeless people to vote for Hillary Clinton, something that he says happens "way too much".

Sue Rosenthal, 74, said "something seems off" with early voting programmes in large cities that she says allow a stream of people to have access to voting machines ahead of election day. Gene Wheaton, 68, said the Democrats will use "any means necessary" to win, so he worries about "the stealth thing that they can do electronically or some other way to really either erase somebody's valid vote or get a bunch of people in secretly voting to load it up for the other side".

Trump supporters were insistent that such fraud is rampant and that major media outlets are conspiring to hide the issue. While many said they are glad that Wisconsin now requires an identification to vote, they said polls need more security measures.

Tammy Petras, 57, said that she thinks some of the voting machines might be "skewed" after undergoing routine maintenance and that some absentee ballots are intercepted and destroyed. Petras has worked at the polls in previous elections, and she admits that she has never witnessed anything fraudulent.

"I think it more so would happen in the larger cities, in your Madisons and Milwaukees," said Petras, a mother-of-three who lives in Green Bay and works for an international manufacturing company. "It's easier to keep control over things in a smaller town than it is when you get into the larger ones."

Talk of voter fraud is nearly always coupled with attacks on the media, which Trump and his supporters have accused of coordinating with Clinton's campaign, refusing to investigate scandals involving her and fabricating news about Trump's treatment of women over the years. As Trump's standing in the polls has diminished, the ire directed at reporters who cover Trump has increased. The most popular chants at Trump's political rallies used to be "lock her up" and "build that wall." On Tuesday it was this: "CNN sucks!" The crowd also repeatedly chanted: "Tell the truth!"