While Trump calls for investigation into voter fraud, his campaign chief was registered in two states

MIAMI – President Donald Trump has called for a national investigation into voter fraud, including people who registered to vote in two states – despite the fact that his campaign chief registered in both Florida in New York.

The voter registration of Stephen Bannon drew a complaint during the campaign from a group that opposed Trump, but ultimately Florida election officials dropped the complaint.

On Wednesday, the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office removed Bannon from the voter roll based on information received from the New York City Board of Elections, said Ron Turner, a Sarasota elections official. Bannon never voted in Sarasota County.

Bannon registered to vote in Miami but never voted there. In August, Bannon switched his voter registration to Sarasota County. The global activist group Avaaz filed a complaint with the Florida Division of Elections on Oct. 19, claiming Bannon didn’t actually live at the Sarasota County address.

The address in Sarasota County was at the home of Breitbart News writer Andrew Badaloto. Bannon ran the conservative news outlet until August.

But Bannon didn’t vote in Sarasota County either. On Oct. 14, he registered to vote at an address on West 40th Street in New York City, according to Thomas Connolly, a spokesman for the New York State Board of elections.

Bannon remains registered to vote in New York and voted in the Nov. 8 election, said Barbara Brunson, a clerk at the New York City Board of Elections. He voted by mail.

Florida Division of Elections deputy counsel Lydia Atkinson wrote in a Jan. 11 letter to the person that filed the complaint that the state would take no further action after looking into it.

“These allegations are neither facially sufficient or do not set out an incident of ‘election fraud’ as defined,” she wrote.

Kendall Coffey, a Democrat and election law expert in Florida, said voters commonly don’t take the time to cancel a voter registration when they move and re-register in a new location. That’s common for college students, for example.

“It is not a crime to be registered in two states as long as, at the time of each registration, the voter’s residency was claimed truthfully,” said Coffey, a former U.S. attorney in Miami. “Residency is principally a matter of the voter’s intent as long as there is some accompanying physical movement to the new location. If one intends the new location to be his or her residence, and has a residence in the new jurisdiction to which movement has been made, courts will usually find that to be sufficient.”

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning: “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”

Trump has repeatedly claimed widespread national voter fraud, but there is no evidence to support his claims.

On Nov. 27 he tweeted that he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” The fact-checking website PolitiFact rated his claim Pants on Fire.