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Hillary Clinton Repeats False Claims About Voter Suppression In Wisconsin

October 20, 2019

Two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Saturday continued to push her debunked claim that tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters weren't able to vote in the 2016 election because of voter suppression.

Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, appeared at an event in Portland, Ore., to promote their new book, The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage And Resilience. The event's moderator asked Clinton about the 2016 presidential election, noting that she had "probably noticed there was some shocking hi-jinks during the last election."

In answering, Clinton claimed that voter suppression occurred in multiple states, including Wisconsin.

"Wisconsin is a great example of where tens of thousands of people were not able to vote, so we know that happened and we have to keep fighting it and we have to keep putting it on the front burner," Clinton said.

Clinton's claims of voter suppression in Wisconsin have varied dramatically over the last several years, but that has not stopped PolitiFact from rating them "mostly false" and "pants on fire." In May 2017, Clinton claimed, "the best estimate is that 200,000 people in Wisconsin were either denied or chilled in their efforts to vote" in the 2016 presidential election. PolitiFact rated the claim "mostly false" and noted the figure came from Democratic super PAC Priorities USA.

Earlier this year, Clinton said, "somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 people were turned away from the polls because of the color of their skin, because of their age, because of whatever excuse could be made up to stop a fellow American citizen from voting." This claim earned Clinton a "pants on fire" rating, which is the worst rating PolitiFact gives out.

Clinton combined these two claims last month, saying, "experts estimate that anywhere from 27,000 to 200,000 Wisconsin citizen voters, predominantly in Milwaukee, were turned away from the polls." This claim prompted PolitiFact to say, "Hillary Clinton just can't quit Wisconsin."

"This is the third time we have rated claims from Clinton on the Wisconsin turnout," the fact-checking site concluded. "She's no closer on this one than the last one. We rate this claim Pants on Fire."

Clinton also brought up the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia, where she echoed failed Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams's repeated claim that she had lost the election due to voter suppression. (Abrams lost by almost 55,000 votes to Republican Brian Kemp.)

"We know several things. We know a lot of voters had their votes suppressed. I believe Stacey Abrams should have been the governor of Georgia," Clinton said, "Very non-partisan, independent, objective studies have shown that probably 80,000 or so Georgians were prevented from voting. They showed up and didn't have the right ID or their voter registration was never processed and it was just blatant what was done there."