THE IMAGINARY "DEAD" AND "INELIGIBLE" VOTERS
In addition to their false claims regarding fake ballots, President Trump and his surrogates also relentlessly asserted that tens of thousands of ballots were cast by dead or otherwise ineligible voters. For example, President Trump and Giuliani frequently alleged that more than 66,000 unregistered juveniles voted in Georgia.[289] In fact, no underage people voted in Georgia.[290] Giuliani offered several different made-up figures of the number of non-citizens who supposedly voted in Arizona, but provided no evidence to substantiate his claims.[291] In fact, Arizona requires every new voter to provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote—or to complete a Federal voter registration form that requires the individual to sign an attestation to citizenship status under penalty of perjury—and no person can vote without being registered.[292] By mid-November, Trump Campaign staff determined this allegation that thousands of non-citizens voted in Arizona was based on "highly unreliable" information, and it is one of the false claims that led to Giuliani losing his New York law license.[293] These "ineligible" voters did not exist.
Nor were thousands of votes cast in the names of dead Americans.
During his January 2nd, call with Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger, the President claimed that "close to about 5,000 [dead] voters" cast ballots in the election. Raffensperger quickly informed the President this wasn't true.[294] But the "dead voter" lie wasn't limited to Georgia. President Trump wanted Americans to believe that "dead voters" contributed to his defeat in several battleground States.[295]
But even the Trump Campaign and its lawyers recognized early on that the claims regarding "dead voters" were grossly exaggerated, to say the least. By early November, Trump lawyers discovered that many people listed by the campaign as having died were actually alive and well.[296] In early December, Eric Herschmann advised Chief of Staff Meadows by text message that the Trump legal team had determined that the claim of more than 10,000 dead people voting in Georgia was not accurate.[297] The ensuing exchange makes clear that both men knew that Giuliani's claims were absurd:
Herschmann: Just an FYI. Alex Cannon and his team verified that the 10k+ supposed dead people voting in GA is not accurate
Meadows: I didn't hear that claim. It is not accurate. I think I found 22 if I remember correctly. Two of them died just days before the general
Herschmann: It was alleged in Rudy's hearing today. Your number is much closer to what we can prove. I think it's 12
