Trump’s awful advice on voting twice

President Trump caused a stir Wednesday by advising his supporters in North Carolina to attempt to vote twice. This would be, if completed and done intentionally, illegal. What’s more, North Carolina state law also makes it a Class I felony “to induce” someone to do this.

The pushback from Trump’s allies is familiar: He was joking. And that’s plausible! It’s entirely possible Trump was speaking somewhat in jest to make a point about the supposed lack of security in mail-in voting, which he has routinely attacked in hyperbolic ways. The risk, of course, is that even one person doesn’t take it as a joke and actually heeds his advice, at which point they would open themselves up to prosecution.