Maryland Lt Gov rejects Trump's corruption claims over mail-in voting error: 'It happens'
Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller pushed back on President Donald Trump’s call for a Justice Department investigation into a state mail-in ballot error, rejecting allegations of corruption and arguing election administration mistakes occur in almost "every election."
Trump called for the DOJ to open an investigation into some Maryland voters receiving incorrect mail-in ballots for the upcoming primary elections, after election officials admitted to an error by the state’s election board. This prompted Trump to put the blame on Democrat Gov. Wes Moore, accusing him of corruptly interfering with the election process to ensure a win for Democrats.
The Maryland State Board of Elections announced that it had been "made aware of an error by our mail-in ballot vendor," Taylor Print & Visual Impressions (TPVI), Inc.
"This was done by the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore," Trump wrote on Truth Social May 18. "He allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win.
Miller told Fox News Digital that the Maryland State Board of Elections operates independently from the governor's administration and characterized ballot-distribution errors as a recurring issue in election administration.
"The administration, they’re a separate body from us, the board of elections," Miller said.
"And it happens, sometimes," she continued. "Ballots get mailed the wrong way. It happens almost in every election.
While election administration errors have occurred in Maryland, including a voter-roll software glitch in 2018, there is no publicly available evidence showing that incorrect mail ballots are an "every election" occurrence.
The state elections board will send out new ballots to all voters who were mailed one before May 14, acknowledging that many voters receiving 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," claiming the state has safeguards in place to avoid this from happening.
Trump also questioned how the issue would be resolved without any potential threat of duplicate voting.
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"In Maryland, they sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots, and they got caught!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "So now, they’re going to send out 500,000 more Mail In Ballots, but nobody knows what’s happening with the first 500,000 they sent."
"In addition, many of these Ballots went to Democrats, so any Republican running in Maryland doesn’t have a chance!"
Miller rejected the idea that this issue was intentional or was the result of corruption within the state.
"I don’t think it was in malice, in any bad way that this happened," she told Fox News Digital. "I think it was just error by the vendor."
State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis also denied Trump’s claim that any "illegal" ballots were distributed.
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Trump said he has asked Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department to investigate the ballot error, but the DOJ has not publicly announced the opening of an investigation.
Miller also said that she has not had any information shared with her by the DOJ into what the investigation will entail.
"We’ll see what the investigation shows," Miller said.