'Lack of evidence is evidence': WH official sparks confusion with bungled attempt to argue against mail-in voting

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has raised eyebrows on social media after claiming in a discussion with CNN’s Jake Tapper that a lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud is in fact “the definition" of fraud.

During the lengthy verbal battle in which neither Tapper or Meadows budged from their respective positions, the CNN host insisted universal mail-in voting in November’s presidential election will not lead to fraud because various states already engage in mail-in voting and have no issues. 

Meadows, meanwhile, insisted that while mail-in voting can work in some states, to do it nationwide would lead to unreliable results, as even voter rolls themselves have a hard time keeping track of people.

“But there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud though,” Tapper said.

“There’s no evidence that there’s not either,” Meadows shot back. “That’s the definition of fraud, Jake.”

The claim that a lack of evidence was in fact evidence prompted a double take from Tapper, who continued insisting that voter fraud is isolated and easy to identify and not very common. 

While voter fraud may not be as widespread as the Trump administration has claimed, there are indeed plenty of instances and the White House website lists examples from what it calls the country’s “long and unfortunate history” of election fraud.

Mail-in voting has become an increasingly controversial topic amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, with many Democrats arguing that the public health situation means the practice should become universal. Trump, meanwhile, has taken an adamant stance against the notion. On Saturday, he said the problem with mail-in voting was that you'll never "know when the election is over." 

Several states have seen local and primary elections fall into chaotic delays and court battles over votes being mishandled or not counted. 

Trump himself recently claimed that Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) “scammed” her way into an election after reports of uncounted ballots in the primary vote. Trump called the entire incident a “total disaster” and said it was a warning for what could happen in November.

Still, Meadows didn’t manage to win many over with his Tapper interview, inspiring plenty to point to his bungled argument as proof that there is no need to worry about voter fraud.

Meadows himself took to Twitter later in the day to double down on his position and to slam the US postal service as a “mismanaged wreck.”

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