Government officials, faculty, and students have denounced 1968 Wharton graduate and former President Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud occurring in Philadelphia on Election Day.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump posted on Truth Social that there was “a lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia,” and that “law enforcement [was] coming.” Trump’s claims are unfounded and have been denounced by several elected officials throughout the City.
Less than an hour after Trump’s post, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to condemn Trump’s claim.
“There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation,” Krasner wrote. “If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. … We are not holding our breath.”
Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein also denounced Trump’s claim in a post on X.
Bluestein wrote that Trump’s claim was completely untrue, dubbing it “yet another example of misinformation.”
According to a CNN reporter on X, the Philadelphia Police Department told CNN that they were unaware of any evidence to support Trump’s claims and had no knowledge of any issues at the polls that would call for a law enforcement response.
Penn Leads the Vote Director and College senior Alyssa Antonian told The Daily Pennsylvanian that PLTV has "no reason to believe [Trump's] claims are remotely true." She also emphasized her belief in the integrity of voting around Penn's campus, saying that PLTV has "full faith in all of the administrators, students, and community members on and around campus who manage [Penn's] local polling places."
Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Professor of Cinema and Modern Media Karen Redrobe, who was a poll worker at the Penn Alexander School on Election Day, told the DP that her involvement as a poll worker was “helpful for [her] to see how difficult it would be to be fraudulent.”
She emphasized the many layers involved in processing votes, including the cross verification of records through numerous people and machines, that make fraudulent activity on Election Day both extremely difficult and unlikely.
College junior and Penn Democrats President Ellie Goluboff-Schragger also denounced Trump’s allegations in a statement to the DP.
“There have been no reports or instances of ‘cheating’ at the Philadelphia polls and it is entirely irresponsible and dangerous of Donald Trump to make these baseless allegations as he has done time and time again,” Goluboff-Schragger wrote.
A Penn College Republicans spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mary Goldman, an elected Democratic committee person in ward 27, division 9 — which covers 40th to 42nd streets from Walnut to Pine streets — slammed Trump’s character in response to his allegations of cheating.
“[Trump is] garbage, but it’s not floating in the ocean,” she said, “It’s pretending to be a presidential candidate.”
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