弗吉尼亚州长候选人特里·麦考利夫号召他的共和党对手格列取消他在第五国会选区共和党称之为“错误”的集会选举诚信地区集会”，这与1965年《投票权法案》首次签署成为法律的周年纪念日不谋而合。
弗吉尼亚州民主党主席苏珊·斯韦克呼吁第五选区共和党人完全取消这一活动。
“当格伦·扬金和共和党人谈论选举诚信时，我们都知道他们的意思。他们追随唐纳德·特朗普的谎言，即2020年的选举被窃取，并推动限制措施，使人们更难行使他们的基本投票权，”斯韦克尔在周二的虚拟新闻发布会上说。“在弗吉尼亚州，我们为保护和扩大神圣的投票权而努力奋斗，我们不会让格伦·扬金拖累我们。”
为期两天的付费活动定于8月6日和7日在林奇堡的一家私立福音派基督教机构自由大学举行。与会者可以购买“早起鸟票”到周五，每个人60美元，每对夫妇110美元;活动宣传单显示，周五之后，门票价格分别上涨20美元和40美元。
杨金，以及其他全州共和党副州长提名人温诺姆·西尔斯和司法部长杰森·米亚雷斯是周六晚上宴会的头条新闻人物。
第五区共和党人集会的路线不是由扬金竞选团队组织或运营的，并不表明这将是一场凸显2020年选举阴谋的活动。对于该党的忠实党员来说，这似乎更像是一场基层活动，分组会议的重点是选民登记、电话银行和敲门等外联活动、组织和选举监督，这些都有法律程序可循。
作为对置评请求的回应，第五区共和党主席梅尔文·亚当斯告诉美国广播公司新闻，该党“对这些策略并不感到惊讶。”
亚当斯说:“他们知道这是一场势均力敌的比赛，我们感谢、激励、装备和赋权我们的‘基层’志愿者的活动，同时也帮助他们知道如何帮助确保我们地方选举的完整性，将在弗吉尼亚州这个非常红的地区引起前所未有的共和党投票率。“这就是他们试图分散注意力的原因。”
选举诚信已经成为战斗口号2020年总统大选后共和党的选举前总统唐纳德·特朗普继续错误地声称这是“操纵的”，尽管没有真正的证据为了支持对战场州普遍欺诈的毫无根据的指控，特朗普合法地输了。共和党领导的州立法机构，包括格鲁吉亚,佛罗里达州和亚利桑那州通过了新的“选举诚信”法律，其中一些相当于彻底改写了选举法。
立法者为这些变化辩护，声称选民对该系统失去了信心，并要求进行改革，尽管该党很少有人公开承认选民信心下降的原因，特别是共和党选民。
杨金在获得提名后赢得了特朗普的支持，他本人并没有重复同样的关于选举被“窃取”的谎言，但选举诚信问题一直是他竞选的核心。
在5月份的党代会之前，扬金发布的唯一一个重大计划是2月份的一个计划，也是为了创建一个“选举诚信工作队”这五重计划呼吁建立一个“政治独立和透明”的选举部门，每月更新选民名册，更严格的选民身份要求，核实邮寄的选票申请和返回，以确保它们是“合法和及时的”，并要求计票观察员和投票机审计。
民主党州长麦考利夫诺瑟姆竞争他的旧工作的前任抨击集会是“受唐纳德·特朗普的阴谋论的启发，导致了一场致命的暴动在美国国会大厦。"
“格伦——够了。我呼吁你们立即退出这场“选举诚信”集会，彻底否认这一危险、致命的阴谋论。弗吉尼亚人应该有一个能说实话、正直行事、尊重他们寻求的职位的领导人，”麦考利夫在周二的一份声明中说。“格伦再次表明，他不是这样的领袖。...如果格伦对真相或弗吉尼亚人有任何尊重，他会立即退出这个活动。”
对此，Youngkin发言人马特·沃金(Matt Wolking)在一份声明中表示，“特里·麦考利夫(Terry McAuliffe)反对要求有照片的身份证才能投票，这破坏了我们选举的完整性，更容易作弊。格伦·扬金(Glenn Youngkin)将恢复弗吉尼亚州的照片身份证法，并确保每个符合条件的人都能轻松投票，更难作弊。”
在弗吉尼亚州，现行法律要求选民出示某种形式的身份证明，但没有特别要求照片身份证。公众广泛支持要求选民出示带照片的身份证才能投票。六月下旬，一个蒙莫斯大学民意测验发现80%的美国人支持这一点，其中约60%的民主党人支持。
麦考利夫还指责杨金“花了几个月的时间否认乔·拜登正式当选总统。”根据一份报告，自从赢得提名以来，杨金一再表示拜登是合法当选的事实核查完成由波因特研究所的政策委员会。然而，事实核查还发现，提名前，多家媒体报道称，扬金或他的竞选团队要么没有回应拜登是否“合法当选”的问题，要么拒绝回答。
McAuliffe calls on Youngkin to cancel appearance at local GOP's rally billed around 'election integrity'
Virginia gubernatorial nomineeTerry McAuliffecalled on his GOP opponentGlenn Youngkinto cancel his appearance at and denounce what the 5th Congressional District Republican Party is calling an "election integrity regional rally," which coincides with the anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act first being signed into law.
Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, called on the 5th District Republicans to cancel the event altogether.
"We all know what Glenn Youngkin and Republicans mean when they talk about election integrity. They're following Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen and pushing restricting measures that make it harder for folks to exercise their fundamental right to vote," Swecker said in a virtual press conference Tuesday. "Here in Virginia, we fought hard to protect and expand the sacred right to vote, and we're not about to let Glenn Youngkin drag us backwards."
The two-day, paid event is scheduled for Aug. 6 and 7 at Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian institution in Lynchburg. Attendees can purchase "early bird tickets" through Friday, which cost $60 per individual and $110 per couple; after Friday, ticket price increases by $20 and $40, respectively, according to the flyer for the event.
Youngkin, along with the other statewide GOP nominees for lieutenant governor, Winsome Sears, and attorney general, Jason Miyares, are the headliners for the Saturday night banquet.
The itinerary for the 5th District Republicans' rally, which was not organized or being run by the Youngkin campaign, does not indicate it will be an event highlighting conspiracies about the 2020 election. It appears to be more of a grassroots event for the party's faithful, with breakout sessions focused on voter registration, outreach like phone banking and door-knocking, organizing and election monitoring, for which there is a legal process to do.
In response to a request for comment, Melvin Adams, the chairman of the 5th District Republicans, told ABC News the party is "not surprised by these tactics."
"They know this is a close race and that our event to thank, inspire, equip, and empower our 'grassroots' volunteers, while also helping them know how they can help to secure the integrity of our local elections, will cause an unprecedented Republican turnout in this very RED region of Virginia," Adams said. "That is why they are attempting to cause distraction."
Election integrity has become therallying cryof the Republican Party following the 2020 presidentialelection, which former President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim was "rigged," despiteno real evidenceto support the baseless accusation of widespread fraud in battleground states Trump legitimately lost. Republican-led state legislatures, includingGeorgia,FloridaandArizona, have passed new "election integrity" laws, some of which amount to sweeping rewrites of election code.
The lawmakers justify these changes by asserting voters have lost faith in the system and are demanding changes -- though few in the party openly acknowledge the source of that diminished confidence among voters, Republican voters specifically.
Youngkin, who earned Trump's endorsement after securing the nomination, has not personally repeated the same lies about the election being "stolen," but the issue of election integrity has been central to his campaign.
Before the party convention in May, the only major plan Youngkin released was one in February about this, also creating an "election integrity task force." Thefive-prong plancalls for creating a "politically independent and transparent" Department of Elections, monthly updates to voter rolls, stricter voter identification requirements, verification of mail ballot applications and returns to ensure they are "legitimate and timely," and requiring ballot counting observers and an audit of voting machines.
McAuliffe, Democratic Gov.Ralph Northam's predecessor who's vying for his old job, blasted the rally as being "inspired by Donald Trump's conspiracy theory that led to adeadly insurrectionat the U.S. Capitol."
"Glenn - enough is enough. I call on you to immediately withdraw from this 'election integrity' rally and disavow this dangerous, deadly conspiracy theory once and for all. Virginians deserve a leader who will tell the truth, act with integrity, and respect the office they seek to hold," McAuliffe said in a statement Tuesday. "Glenn has shown, yet again, that he is no such leader. ... If Glenn has any respect for the truth or Virginians, he will drop out of this event immediately."
In response, Youngkin spokesperson Matt Wolking said in a statement, "Terry McAuliffe opposes requiring a photo ID to vote, which undermines the integrity of our elections and makes it easier to cheat. Glenn Youngkin will restore Virginia's photo ID law and make sure it is easy for every eligible person to vote and harder to cheat."
In Virginia, current law requires voters present a form of identification, but photo ID specifically is not required. There is broad support among the public for requiring voters to present a photo ID to cast ballots. In late June, aMonmouth University pollfound that 80% of Americans support this, including about 60% of Democrats.
McAuliffe also accused Youngkin of spending "months denying that Joe Biden was duly elected president." Since winning the nomination, Youngkin has repeatedly said Biden was legitimately elected, according to afact check doneby the Poynter Institute's PolitiFact. However, the fact check also found that pre-nomination, multiple media outlets reported that Youngkin or his campaign either did not respond to questions about whether Biden was "legitimately elected" or declined to answer.
