Donald Trump's errant views on voting, Joe Biden miscues

President Donald Trump has been putting forth convoluted guidance to his supporters on submitting double votes in the November election, an act that would be illegal and risk public safety in the pandemic.

In a week filled with fabrication, half-truths and misrepresentation, he also wrongly took full credit for veterans improvements that were underway before he took office.

He said he never called John McCain a loser — he did — and also distorted events in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, Democratic rival Joe Biden falsely claimed to have been the first person to have called for the use of emergency production powers in the coronavirus pandemic, and he tried to shed light on the history of the incandescent bulb but was a bit hazy.

A look at recent claims and reality:

November election

Trump: “So you sign your ballot and mail it in, just mail it ... On election day or early voting, go to your polling place, even though you've mailed it in, go to your polling place to see whether or not your mail-in vote has been tabulated or counted. ... So if it hasn't been counted, if it doesn't show up, go and vote. And then if your mail-in ballot arrives after you vote, which it shouldn't, but possibly it could, perhaps. That ballot will not be used ... So send it in and then see, and then vote, and let's see what happens.” — North Carolina tele-rally on Friday.

Also read: How mail-in voting works explained

Trump: “Send in your ballots, send them in strong ... And you send them in, but you go to vote. If they haven't counted it, you can vote.” — interview Wednesday with WECT TV6 in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The facts: To be clear, it is illegal in all 50 states and under federal law to vote twice in an election.

Election officials also advise people against heading to the polls to check on their mail-in ballots and then attempting to cast another ballot if there isn't full verification, saying it will cause unnecessary chaos, long waits and health dangers in the pandemic.

Contrary to what Trump suggests, information on whether a ballot has been counted is typically not available right away. In several states, absentee ballots aren't even counted until after polls close. What can be checked is whether an absentee ballot has been received, and in some cases, whether it has passed a security review and will be submitted for counting.

The wall

Trump, claiming Biden wants to “eliminate America's borders”: “He wants to tear down the wall — he actually suggested tearing down the wall that we fought so hard to get built.” — North Carolina tele-rally on Friday.

The facts: That's false.

Biden's immigration plan does not include money for new border fencing, and he and his campaign task force on immigration aren't calling for any new walls. But neither has proposed taking down existing barriers.

Asked specifically by NPR last month if he would tear down the wall, Biden said: “No. There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration, No. 1." “No. 2 … I'm going to make sure that we have border protection, but it's going to be based on making sure that we use the high-tech capacity to deal with it and at the ports of entry. That's where all bad stuff is happening.”

Pandemic

Biden: “When it got up to March, I kept saying, 'Look, you've got to invoke,' and you remember, I think I was the first — I may be mistaken — the person calling for the Defence Production Act.” — comment after a news conference Wednesday.

The facts: He is correct about being mistaken.

Biden issued a statement March 18 saying he was issuing a call for Trump to invoke the Defence Production Act to give priority to “and immediately increase domestic production of any critical medical equipment required to respond to this crisis — such as the production of ventilators and associated training to operate.”

His call came the same day Trump signed an order to use his authority under the act.

Five days earlier a group of Democrats in Congress wrote to Trump asking him to use powers under the act, a step that Trump officials and others had been discussing publicly for several weeks.

Jobs

Biden: “Donald Trump may be the only president in modern history to leave the office with fewer jobs than when he took office.” — Wilmington, Delaware, speech Friday.

The facts: Maybe yes, maybe no.

Not since Depression-era Herbert Hoover has a president left office with a record of fewer jobs than when he began.

This could happen to Trump because of the pandemic, but he could also end up with a small gain.

In August there were 4.7 million fewer jobs than there were when Trump was inaugurated in January 2017. But if he leaves office in five months, and if the economy adds more than one million jobs each month, as happened in July and August, he could end up in the black.

There are signs, though, that the gains are slowing as businesses have recalled many of the workers who were temporarily laid off from restaurants, bars, retailers and other businesses. So Biden's prediction could come true.