William Barr claims an election with mail in voting is not secure – but admits he has no evidence for it

Attorney general’s comments echo president Donald Trump’s last month

US attorney general William Barr has suggested that an election that uses mainly mail-in voting will not be secure, but admits he has no evidence to back up his claim.

Speaking to NPR on Thursday, the attorney general was asked if he thinks an election that is voted on predominately by mail can be implemented without widespread fraud.

“Personally, no,” he replied. “I mean, we just mailed out checks under this program. And what is it? I heard something like 20 per cent or something were misdirected,” Mr Barr added, referring to coronavirus stimulus cheques.

A report published by the Government Accountability Office on Thursday revealed that more than $1bn (£809.5m) in stimulus funding was sent to people who were already dead, according to CNN.

However, the stimulus cheques were sent out automatically, while to vote by mail a US citizen has to register and apply to receive a ballot.

Despite the two processes using a different system, the attorney general claimed that the same issues could occur with mail-in voting, and told NPR: “I know things can happen like that.

“Because I know people move, a very high percentage in the United States, people move all the time. And I also know that you can easily take things out of mailboxes.”

The attorney general clarified that he was not referring to the levels of mail-in voting that generally occur in an election, but instead when it is the most common way to vote.

Mr Barr added: “There’s so many occasions for fraud there that cannot be policed. I think it would be very bad.”

When asked if he has any evidence for his claims, the 70-year-old replied: “No, it’s obvious.”

Mr Barr’s comments echo those of president Donald Trump, who last month falsely claimed that mail-in voting will enable “thousands of forgeries,” despite voting by mail in Florida himself in March for the Republican primary.

Mr Trump has repeatedly spoken publicly against people being able to vote by mail in this year’s presidential election, saying without evidence that it will cause a large increase in voting fraud.

Officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties have called for voting by mail to be implemented for November’s presidential election, due to logistical concerns around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

However, last month, the president tweeted: “The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots. It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history.”

He then added, without citing any evidence, that “people grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and ‘force’ people to sign. Also, forge names.”