ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: Where’s credible evidence of election fraud?

<p>Bill Barr can take the heat, and the stalwart Attorney General guaranteed he’ll get it when he said “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”</p><p>Mr. Barr told the Associated Press that allegations of “particularized” fraud, with some that “potentially cover a few thousand votes,” are being explored. But President Trump is down by 150,000 votes in Michigan, 80,000 in Pennsylvania, and 20,000 in Wisconsin. As for the idea that voting machines were compromised, Mr. Barr said the feds “have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”</p><p>As specific claims of fraud get knocked down, however, the broader tale of election theft takes on the nature of the unfalsifiable. Where’s the hard evidence to convince the country? Many of the theories floating around don’t withstand scrutiny.</p><p>— “Ballot dumps”: It’s being painted as suspicious that big batches of votes were reported in the early hours of Nov. 4. To take Wisconsin: Mr. Trump complained in a tweet that Joe Biden got “a dump of 143,379 votes at 3:42AM.” But the explanation is prosaic: Contemporaneous reporting says this is when Milwaukee’s central counting location finished with roughly 170,000 mail ballots. They included votes for both candidates but broke heavily for Mr. Biden.</p><p>The timing is unfortunate, but Wisconsin law doesn’t let counties process absentee ballots until Election Day, unlike states that reported early, including Florida. Still, the margin in Milwaukee County doesn’t look crazy: Mr. Biden won 69% to 29%, compared with Hillary Clinton’s victory of 65% to 29%. As a share of Wisconsin’s vote total, Milwaukee County fell to 13.9%, from 14.8%. A recount finished last week increased Milwaukee’s tally by only 382 votes.</p><p>The same goes for Michigan, which reported a similar batch of ballots in the wee hours of Nov. 4. State law says mail votes can’t be processed until one day before the election. The overnight jump for Mr. Biden appears to have come from Wayne County, which includes Detroit. But again the margins aren’t wild: Mr. Biden won there 68% to 30%, compared with Mrs. Clinton’s 67% to 29%. As a share of Michigan overall, Wayne County fell to 15.8%, from 16.2%.</p><p>— Poll watchers: Judges have dismissed affidavits submitted by the Trump camp as “rife with speculation and guess-work” and “inadmissible as hearsay.” Other claims made in public circulate largely without being tested. A poll watcher from Delaware County, Pa., alleged last week, without giving any evidence, that 47 USB cards used in the election “are missing, and they’re nowhere to be found.” Where’s the proof? “We are aware of these allegations,” says Laureen Hagan, the chief elections clerk in Delaware County. “They are false. All votes on all scanners have been accounted for.”</p><p>— Dominion: On Sunday, Mr. Trump called Dominion voting systems, used in dozens of states, “garbage machinery.” But the totals from Georgia’s hand recount closely matched the results from its scanners. How does Mr. Trump explain that? In an op-ed for these pages, Dominion’s CEO denied the “bizarre” claim that his company is tied to Hugo Chávez. Third-party labs, he said, “perform complete source-code reviews on every federally certified tabulation system.”</p><p>Fighting such claims is like whack-a-mole. No, Pennsylvania didn’t count more mail votes than it sent out. No, Wisconsin didn’t have 89% turnout. No, several states didn’t simultaneously quit counting ballots on election night. No, ballots in Arizona filled out with Sharpie markers weren’t discounted. In an election with 155 million votes, there are no doubt irregularities and maybe some fraud. But for Mr. Trump to win the Electoral College, he’d need to flip tens of thousands of votes in multiple states.</p><p>We’re open to evidence of major fraud, but we haven’t seen claims that are credible. Now comes Mr. Barr, who has no reason to join a coverup. He likes his job. He wanted Mr. Trump to win. As the election timetable closes, Mr. Trump should focus on preserving his legacy rather than diminishing it by alleging fraud he can’t prove.</p><p><em>Send comments to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</em></p>