President Trump slammed New York City, comparing it to the 2020 presidential election after a data error in the Democrat primary results for the mayoral race prompted voter fraud concerns.
“The New York City Election, even though an embarrassment and total mess, is far better and more accurate than my 2020 Presidential Election—so what are people complaining about,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday.
Questioning the integrity of the vote totals, he claimed they were caused by “vast irregularities and mistakes.”
“The Presidential Race was a Scam and a Hoax with numbers and results being found that are massive, shocking, and determinative. Watch the mess you are about to see in New York City, it will go on forever. They should close the books and do it all over again, the old-fashioned way, when we had results that were accurate and meaningful,” Trump continued.
The Democrat primary for New York City’s mayoral election ignited concern on Tuesday after the Board of Elections retracted vote totals over a significant data error while using a new voting method called “ranked choice system.”
The retracted vote totals showed Eric Adams, a pro-police, moderate Democrat candidate, leading against Kathryn Garcia, who was endorsed by AOC, by around 16,000 votes – which was over a 100,000 vote increase from election night.
Although the Board of Elections initially cited a “discrepancy” as justification for pulling the vote totals, it later explained leftover test data from the computer system had been incorporated which ultimately amounted to an additional 135,000 votes.
The city’s Board of Elections issued an apology over its latest mistake stating, “The Board apologizes for the error and has taken immediate measures to ensure the most accurate up to date results are reported.”
Adams’ campaign was quick to react to the initial vote totals – pointing out that the sharp increase in votes from the day of the primary is cause for concern.
“We have asked the Board of Elections to explain such a massive increase and other irregularities before we comment on the Ranked Choice Voting projection,” his campaign said in a statement. “We remain confident that Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York because he put together a historic five-borough working-class coalition of New Yorkers to make our city a safer, fairer, more affordable place.”
Garcia’s campaign mutually voiced concern over the Board of Election’s “deeply concerning” mistake.
“The BOE’s release of incorrect ranked choice votes is deeply troubling and requires a much more transparent and complete explanation,” Garcia’s team stated. “Every ranked choice and absentee vote must be counted accurately so that all New Yorkers have faith in our democracy and our government.”
Aside from the data error, the initial vote total also failed to incorporate the 125,000 absentee ballots which were outstanding at the time.
If the NYC Board of Elections does not look into the possibility of fraud in this race, the mayoral primary election may turn out like the 2020 presidential election. Stay tuned for more updates.
