Former President Jimmy Carter Says Claims of a Rigged Election Are ‘Baseless’

Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that claims the U.S. elections will be rigged are “baseless” and undermine American democracy.

“The Carter Center has observed more than 100 elections around the world, some of them quite problematic,” the former president released a statement through The Carter Center, the human rights organization he founded after leaving the White House. “However, allegations of potential rigging of U.S. elections, as well as of widespread voter fraud, are baseless, serving only to undermine confidence in our democratic processes and inflame tensions.”

Carter did not specifically mention Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that the election will be rigged against him. Trump doubled down on this idea during Wednesday’s presidential debate when he refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the Nov. 8 election.

The Carter Center said in its statement that it “has great confidence in the overall administrative integrity of U.S. elections” and that many checks and balances help keep the system fair.