Pro-Trump protesters rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. “It’s probably possible to falsify anything. Just like the previous elections in the U.S. were falsified through voting by mail.”
During a January 16 meeting in Moscow, Putin falsely claimed the 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged. He further claimed that sham 2022 referendums Russia claimed to have held in occupied Ukraine were “legitimate.”“No one will force you to come to the polling station,” Putin said describing the “referendums” the Kremlin claims to have organized in occupied Ukraine, with no evidence that the voting took place.
Voting by mail has become a politicized issue in the U.S. after former President Donald Trump argued that mail-in voting resulted in fraud and contributed to his losing the election. While not backed by evidence, many of Trump’s Republican colleagues supported his allegations. The officials use nested envelopes to mail these ballots, and the inner envelope or attached flap contains verification data, including a signature and serial number or bar code “to provide confidentiality.”