Election was fair and fraud free, international observers invited by the State Department report - but they warn Trump supporters tried to intimidate poll counters
An internal group invited by the State Department to observe the 2020 election released a report Friday indicating they saw no instances of voter fraud or irregularities contradictory to Donald Trump's claims.
The Organization of American States, led by Secretary General Luis Almagro, sent in a team of 28 election observers from 13 different countries to watch the vote happen in Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan and Washington, DC.
'While the OAS Mission has not directly observed any serious irregularities that call into question the results so far, it supports the right of all contesting parties in an election, to seek redress before the competent legal authorities when they believe they have been wronged,' they wrote in a report released Friday.
OAS said in its 20-page preliminary report that although Election Day was peaceful, there were some efforts to intimidate voters ahead of casting their ballots and poll workers as they counted the votes.
'The intimidation of voters and other actors in the electoral process was also a matter of significant concern,' the group noted. 'In the weeks before Election Day, while early voting was already in progress, citizens in several states, both Democrats and Republicans, received threatening emails from an unknown actor, demanding they vote for one or the other of the major candidates.'
A group of 28 international election observers invited by the State Department to watch over the 2020 election reported they saw no fraud or irregularities on November 3 and the days after as mail-in ballots were counted
The Organization of American States, however, noted there was intimidation of voters before and on Election Day by both sides and Republican protests against ballot counters outside tabulation centers
President Donald Trump has still not conceded to Joe Biden and the OAS says candidates have the right to seek recounts or legal action if they felt they were wronged
The Michigan observer also witnessed disruption outside the tabulation center in Detroit when Trump supporters gathered to protest continued counting.
'The Mission notes that the aggressive attempts by members of the public to 'stop the count', which were replicated in Pennsylvania and Arizona, were clear examples of intimidation of electoral officials,' OAS wrote in its report.
Trump and his allies insist there was fraud, especially in regards to mail-in ballots, in the election.
They claim that Trump would have easily won if states did not continue to count the mass amount of mail-in ballots that were received after Election Day – and they insist states that sent out ballots to all registered voters engaged in fraud.
Over the weekend, Joe Biden declared victory after Pennsylvania projected it's 20 Electoral College votes would go to the former vice president, putting him over the 270 threshold needed to win the White House.
Trump has refused since then to concede, instead launching several lawsuits in key states he says helped 'steal' the election for Biden.
Large demonstrations broke out in several cities as Republicans demanded counters stop tabulating mail-in ballots as the more were counted, the more likely it became that Biden would emerge victorious.
Historically, Republicans show up more in-person on Election Day to cast their vote, while mail-in and absentee ballots tend to skew toward the Democratic candidate.
OAS noted in its Friday report that Trump 'accused electoral workers of electoral fraud, and reiterated that his campaign would pursue its complaints through the courts.'
'The OAS observers deployed in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia did not witness any of the aforementioned irregularities,' The Mission added.
Trump's campaign team has started up an effort for Georgia to recount its ballots once canvassing is complete, as Biden remains only around 10,000 votes ahead – but only after mail-in ballots started being counted.
The Mission also took a look at polling and its role in the U.S. presidential election.
It said that like 2016, the polling industry in the U.S. failed at a national level to 'accurately estimate the support for several candidates, including the Republican presidential candidate, while overestimating the support for the Democratic candidate.'
'This can be attributed to the significant decentralization of the electoral system. Polls at the local level proved to be more accurate,' the preliminary report continued.
OAS noted, however, that candidates and media use polling 'as a tool for campaign propaganda' more so than an actual 'mechanism to accurately predict voter intentions.'
'This was made most evident as results showed the predictions were drastically different from reality,' it wrote.
The Organization of American States, which conducted the observation and report, is led by Secretary General Luis Almagro
Pollsters received widespread backlash after the results this year proved to be just as inaccurate as those in 2016, where almost every national poll had Hillary Clinton winning the presidency over Trump.
The president claimed Wednesday morning that the polls taken before the election were 'illegal' as he claimed they suppressed the support he actually held across the country. He suggests this was intentional to discourage his supporters from turning out.
'The Fake Pollsters at @ABC/@washingtonpost produced a possibly illegal suppression Poll just before the Election showing me down 17 points in Wisconsin when, in fact, on Election Day, the race was even - & we are now preparing to win the state. Many such 'deplorable' instances!' Trump tweeted.
Most polls predicted Biden winning by much larger margins in several key states, like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, than he did. They also predicted Biden would take Florida, which ended up swinging for Trump again this year.