Barr: An Election Conducted Primarily by Mail Can’t Be Secure

During a portion of an interview with NPR released on Friday, Attorney General William Barr said he isn’t concerned about having mail-in ballots for a “limited” amount of people who can’t vote in person, but he is concerned about “a comprehensive rule where all the ballots are essentially mail-in,” and doesn’t believe an election that is mainly conducted by mail can be secure.

Barr said, [relevant exchange begins around 6:15] “I think there’s a range of concerns about mail-in ballots. And let me just clarify here, I’m not talking about a mail-in ballot for a limited number of cases where somebody is going to be traveling around the world, and the way that the state has provided for that is, you mail in your ballot. I’m talking about a comprehensive rule where all the ballots are essentially mail-in, and there’s so many occasions for fraud there that cannot be policed.”

He later added, “I have specific reason to believe that there are a number of foreign countries that do want to sow discord in the United States by undermining confidence in the results of the election. And I think if we do adopt programs of mail-in, that will be an area which they will exploit.”

Host Steve Inskeep asked, “Do you believe that an election conducted mainly by mail can be secure?”

Barr responded, “Personally, no.”

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