Twitter Flags Trump Tweets Encouraging Voters To Cast Ballots Twice
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF / AP) – Twitter has flagged tweets from President Donald Trump suggesting that mail-in voters cast more than one ballot in the upcoming election, which is illegal.
In a thread posted on his account Thursday, Trump urged people who are mailing in their ballot should go to their polling place to see if their ballot was counted, and to vote again if it was not.
The president said in part "....go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted). If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly. If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen's right to do)."
A few hours later, San Francisco-based social media giant said, "We placed a public interest notice on two Tweets in this thread for violating our Civic Integrity Policy, specifically for encouraging people to potentially vote twice."
We placed a public interest notice on two Tweets in this thread for violating our Civic Integrity Policy, specifically for encouraging people to potentially vote twice. https://t.co/UU9kJfqptz
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 3, 2020
Trump claims, without evidence, that the Nov. 3 election will be awash in fraud because so many voters will mail in their ballots to avoid being exposed to the coronavirus at polling sites.
A day earlier in a visit to North Carolina, Trump suggested people vote twice to test the mail-in system.
North Carolina's attorney general, Democrat Josh Stein, said it was outrageous for the president to suggest that people "break the law in order to help him sow chaos in our election."
"Make sure you vote, but do NOT vote twice!" Stein tweeted. "I will do everything in my power to make sure the will of the people is upheld in November."
It's a felony under North Carolina state law to vote twice. Once someone has cast an absentee ballot, that person may not change or cancel it, or decide to vote in person on Election Day, according to the state election board's website.
The social media platform has flagged several Trump tweets this election season, including other posts making false claims about mail-in voting. Twitter has also flagged Trump tweets about the protests following the death of George Floyd, saying posts broke the platform's rules about "glorifying violence."
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