NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller rejected President Donald Trump’s call for a Justice Department investigation into a state ballot error in mail-in ballots, rejecting allegations of corruption and arguing that errors in election administration occur in nearly “every election.”
Trump asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into some Maryland voters who received incorrect mail-in ballots for the upcoming primary election, after election officials admitted an error by the state’s elections board. This led Trump to blame Democratic Governor Wes Moore, accusing him of corruptly interfering in the electoral process to ensure a Democratic victory.
The Maryland State Board of Elections announced that it “was informed of an error by our mail-in ballot provider,” Taylor Print & Visual Impressions (TPVI), Inc.
TRUMP CALLS FOR DOJ TO INVESTIGATE MARYLAND MAIL-IN BALLOT ERROR, SUSPECTING ‘CORRUPTED’ GOVERNMENT. WES MOORE TIES
“This was done by the state’s corrupt governor, Wes Moore,” Trump wrote in Truth Social on May 18. “He allowed this to happen to make sure the Democrats won.
Miller told Fox News Digital that the Maryland State Board of Elections operates independently of the governor’s administration and characterized errors in ballot distribution as a recurring problem in election administration.
Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller rejected President Donald Trump’s corruption allegations related to the state’s recent mail-in ballot error after Trump called for a Justice Department investigation into the incident. (to Williams/CQ Roll Call; Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The administration is a separate body from us, the board of elections,” Miller said.
“And it happens, sometimes,” he continued. “Ballots are mailed incorrectly. It happens almost every election.
While there have been errors in election administration in Maryland, including a failure in voter registration software in 2018, there is no publicly available evidence to show that incorrect mail-in ballots occur in “every election.”
The state elections board will send new ballots to all voters who were mailed one before May 14, recognizing that many voters who received new ballots may not have been affected by the mishap.
The state elections board said there was “no risk of duplicate voting as a result of this issue,” stating that the state has safeguards in place to prevent this from happening.
Trump also asked how the issue would be resolved without any potential threat of duplicate voting.
POLITICAL stench: MARYLAND GOVERNMENT. WES MOORE CALLS TRUMP’S WASTEWATER SPILL ‘ABSURED’
President Donald Trump has asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into some Maryland voters who received incorrect mail-in ballots for the upcoming primary election. (Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)
“In Maryland, they sent out 500,000 illegal mail-in ballots and got caught!” Trump wrote in Truth Social. “So now they’re going to send out 500,000 more mail-in ballots, but no one knows what’s happening with the first 500,000 they sent out.”
“Plus, many of these ballots went to Democrats, so any Republican running in Maryland doesn’t stand a chance!”
Miller rejected the idea that this problem was intentional or the result of corruption within the state.
“I don’t think this happened maliciously or in a bad way,” he told Fox News Digital. “I think it was just a mistake on the part of the supplier.”
State elections administrator Jared DeMarinis also denied Trump’s claim that “illegal” ballots were distributed.
MARYLAND BALLOT ERROR TRIGGERS GOP PUSH FOR FEDERAL REVIEW OF BLUE STATE VOTER LISTS
Maryland State Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis has defended the state elections board’s response to an unspecified number of Maryland residents who received an incorrect mail-in ballot. (Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service)
Trump said he asked Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department to investigate the ballot error, but the Justice Department has not publicly announced the opening of an investigation.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Miller also said the Justice Department has not shared with him any information about what the investigation will detail.
“We’ll see what the research shows,” Miller said.