USA Today: North Carolina elections chief says ‘It is illegal to vote twice in an election’ after Trump comment on double voting

A day after President Donald Trump appeared to encourage supporters in North Carolina to both mail in ballots and vote in person, the state’s Board of Elections issued a statement Thursday telling voters it is illegal to vote in an election twice.

“It is illegal to vote twice in an election,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Bell said state law made it a “Class I felony” for a voter, “with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time … in the same primary or election.”

“Attempting to vote twice in an election or soliciting someone to do so also is a violation of North Carolina law,” Brinson Bell added.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein also chimed in, advising residents “vote, but do not vote twice.”

After arriving in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Trump told local station WECT that voters in the state should test their state’s election system by voting once by mail, then trying to vote a second time in person.

“Let them send it in and let them go vote, and if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote,” Trump said. …

Some critics said Trump’s comments broke the law by encouraging voters to break the law.

“President Trump’s repeated requests to his followers to commit felonies are felony crimes themselves because he is inciting the commission of those crimes,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of the election watchdog organization Common Cause. “You cannot test election integrity rules by breaking them any more than you can rob a bank to make sure your money is safe.”