Russian President Vladimir Putin messaged his support for Republican-backed election lies on Tuesday, pushing his own false claim that U.S. mail-in voting has allowed U.S. officials to “falsify” elections.
Russia’s leader, who currently seems to be rigging his own presidential election, evidently had thoughts to share on the issue of unlawful electioneering.
According to Reuters, Putin said on Tuesday that, “in the United States, previous elections were falsified through postal voting ... they bought ballots for $10, filled them out, and threw them into mailboxes without any supervision from observers, and that’s it.”
None of that actually happened, of course.
Putin’s remarks align with lies Republicans have spread, like claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and, more specifically, that mail-in voter fraud cost Donald Trump the 2020 election. But after suffering key losses in 2020 and again in 2022, some Republican Party officials have been encouraging their base to take up mail-in voting in the upcoming election anyway. Even Trump — who previously claimed “YOU CAN NEVER HAVE FAIR & FREE ELECTIONS WITH MAIL-IN BALLOTS” — said last year that his party has “no choice” but to embrace mail-in voting. Republicans say they’re still fighting their voters’ hesitancy over mailing ballots. Putin’s remarks probably won’t help on that front, given the disturbing level of support for him we've seen from the Republican base over the last year.
The timing of the remarks also seems significant. With Republicans in Congress currently blocking a bill that would authorize more aid to help Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion, Putin's words can also be seen as a signal of his continued support for the GOP’s political cause. And, importantly, it's a way to sow chaos in the American political system.