News and Commentary

AG Barr On Mail-In Voting: People Pushing It ‘Are Grossly Irresponsible,’ Media Used To Oppose It

   DailyWire.com
Vote-by-mail ballots for the August 4 Washington state primary are pictured at King County Elections in Renton, Washington on August 3, 2020.
JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images

Attorney General William Barr told Fox News host Mark Levin during a Sunday interview that those who were promoting drastic changes to the way that Americans vote right before an election were playing with fire and were being “grossly irresponsible.”

“I’m very worried about it. You know, as I said at the beginning, the two ways we have resolving disputes in our society and keeping the peace are discussion and voting,” Barr said. “And right now, we’re a very divided country politically. Our elections have been very close. They can turn on one state. They turn on just a few districts.”

“And people have to have confidence in the outcome or we’re going to have real problems in this country,” Barr continued. “And I think the people who want to experiment with different ways of voting right now, which are predictably – you know, can predictably create problems of integrity, are playing with fire and are grossly irresponsible.”

“You know, mail-in voting, you know, has been used for people who, in individual cases where they can’t go and vote, you go and you apply for a ballot, you get the ballot, you vote. There’s no problem with that, especially for states that have been doing that for awhile,” Barr continued. “But the idea that you, without any request from the voter, will mail out your voting list, all these thousands and thousands of ballots, is scary, because most of those mailings go to a lot of addresses where the people no longer live. They’re misdirected, and I think they will create a situation – they could easily create a situation where there’s going to be a contested election.”

Barr seemed to suggest that the Department of Justice has been monitoring the media’s coverage of the issue of mail-in voting, saying, “And you know, it’s funny, we went and looked back at press coverage of this issue. It wasn’t until Trump was elected that the media changed its tune. Before that, the media used to refer to mail-in ballots as, you know, fraught with fraud or raising questions of fraud or integrity of the vote.”

“It’s only [after] – it’s only recently that they’ve now made it, you know, doctrinal that, oh, there’s no – there’s no issue with mail-in voting,” Barr concluded.

WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA FOX NEWS:

FOX NEWS HOST MARK LEVIN: Welcome back, America.

Mr. Attorney General, a lot of talk about mail-in votes. We see what goes on in some of these states. It’s a little scary. I don’t see how more money’s going to fix it in the period of 30 days.

And more and more states – I mean, you have some mail-in votes in states, absentee ballots, etc… you’re talking about tens of millions now that never took place before. What do you make of all of that?

ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: I’m very worried about it. You know, as I said at the beginning, the two ways we have resolving disputes in our society and keeping the peace are discussion and voting.

And our – right now, we’re a very divided country politically. Our elections have been very close. They can turn on one state. They turn on just a few districts.

And people have to have confidence in the outcome or we’re going to have real problems in this country. And I think the people who want to experiment with different ways of voting right now, which are predictably – you know, can predictably create problems of integrity, are playing with fire and are grossly irresponsible.

You know, we – mail-in voting, you know, has been used for people who, in individual cases where they can’t go and vote, you go and you apply for a ballot, you get the ballot, and you vote. There’s no problem with that, especially for states that have been doing that for awhile.

But the idea that you, without any request from the voter will mail out your voting list, all these thousands and thousands of ballots is scary, because most of those mailings go to a lot of addresses where the people no longer live. They’re misdirected.

And I think they will create a situation – they could easily create a situation where there’s going to be a contested election.

LEVIN: You know, what concerns me, you know, having worked for years in a legal foundation, and we looked at a lot of this, is any attempt to clean the voter rolls, that is take off dead people, people who have moved and gone in other states, people who are a maiden name and then a married name – is attacked as suppressing the vote as a systemically racist effort to affect the election.

I mean, I’ve heard this. We’ve heard this all along. So we know the rolls are not perfect, and the post office is going to be mailing to those rolls. We know the post office isn’t perfect.

We saw what happened in that district in New York. We saw what happened in New York generally with the mail-in. It was a disaster. We saw thousands of ballots showing up out of nowhere in New Jersey.

We – these are, I mean, if you want test cases, these are test cases, and –

BARR: Sure.

LEVIN: — to now have potentially 50 or 60 million people vote this way — so why is one party pushing it and not another? You don’t have to answer that question. I’ll tell you why I think, unless you want to.

It’s because chaos supports a narrative that the president of the United States doesn’t want to leave office when, in fact, the president of the United States never said, I don’t want to leave office. He said, I’ll look at the results of the election, and then I’ll decide. I mean, it’s Biden who’s hired 600 litigators, right?

BARR: Yes.

LEVIN: He’s not hiring them just because he wants lawyers. He’s hiring them to go into state court and fight every ballot.

BARR: Right.

And you know, it’s funny, we went and looked back at press coverage of this issue. It wasn’t until Trump was elected that the media changed its tune. Before that, the media used to refer to mail-in ballots as, you know, fraught with fraud or raising questions of fraud or integrity of the vote.

It’s only after – it’s only recently that they’ve now made it, you know, doctrinal that, oh, there’s no – there’s no issue with mail-in voting.

LEVIN: We’ll be right back.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  AG Barr On Mail-In Voting: People Pushing It ‘Are Grossly Irresponsible,’ Media Used To Oppose It