--- title: Jimmy Carter Says Claims of Rigged Election 'Baseless' description: These claims serve "only to undermine confidence in our democratic processes" canonical: https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T14:52:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:15.068Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former President Jimmy Carter Says Claims of Rigged Election Are 'Baseless' og:description: These claims serve "only to undermine confidence in our democratic processes" og:url: https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc13413cca8cbc485/6988aacbcf40a851b4c453c6/jimmy-carter-president-integrity-elections-rigging-baseless-democracy-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 53rd Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards - Inside og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former President Jimmy Carter Says Claims of Rigged Election Are 'Baseless' twitter:description: These claims serve "only to undermine confidence in our democratic processes" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc13413cca8cbc485/6988aacbcf40a851b4c453c6/jimmy-carter-president-integrity-elections-rigging-baseless-democracy-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former President Jimmy Carter Says Claims of a Rigged Election Are 'Baseless' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Obama Told Donald Trump to ‘Stop Whining’ About Elections [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Told Donald Trump to ‘Stop Whining’ About Elections](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qa0odyfJ.m3u8) (2:03)  _Published 2016-10-18. President Obama delivered a series of subdued attacks against Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who he told to “stop whining” about the unsubstantiated claims that the election will be rigged in a press conference Tuesday._ by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Oct 20, 2016 2:52 PM UTC  President Jimmy Carter presents Trisha Yearwood (not pictured) with the Voice of Music Award during the 53rd annual ASCAP Country Music awards at the Omni Hotel on Nov. 2, 2015 in Nashville. President Jimmy Carter presents Trisha Yearwood (not pictured) with the Voice of Music Award during the 53rd annual ASCAP Country Music awards at the Omni Hotel on Nov. 2, 2015 in Nashville. Michael Loccisano—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Oct 20, 2016 2:52 PM UTC 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](https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/us-elections-101916.html) 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](http://time.com/4538015/presidential-debate-donald-trump-election/?xid=homepage) 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](http://time.com/4535364/donald-trump-rigged-election-fact-check/?iid=sr-link1) help keep the system fair. ## Transcript I have never seen in my lifetime, or in modern political history, a presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process. Before votes have even taken place. It's unprecedented. It happens to be based on no facts every expect regardless of political party Regardless of ideology. Conservative or liberal who has ever examined these issues in a serious way will tell you that instances of voter fraud are not to be found. That Keep in mind elections are run by state and local officials, which means that there are places like Florida, for example, where you've got a Republican governor, those are Republican appointees, are going to be running and monitoring a whole bunch of these election sites, the notion that somehow It makes a trouble [ UNKNOWN ] for that because of those people that you have to watch out for, that is both irresponsible, [ BLANK_AUDIO ] and by the way they didn't really show the kind of [ BLANK_AUDIO ] leadership and toughness they will have in presence. You start whining before the game's even over? If whenever things are going badly for you and you lose, you start blaming someone else? Then you don't have what it takes to be in this job. I'd invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/"},"headline":"Former President Jimmy Carter Says Claims of a Rigged Election Are 'Baseless'","datePublished":"2016-10-20T14:52:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:15.068Z","description":"These claims serve \"only to undermine confidence in our democratic processes\"","url":"https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Jimmy Carter"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc13413cca8cbc485/6988aacbcf40a851b4c453c6/jimmy-carter-president-integrity-elections-rigging-baseless-democracy-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc13413cca8cbc485/6988aacbcf40a851b4c453c6/jimmy-carter-president-integrity-elections-rigging-baseless-democracy-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"53rd Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards - Inside","caption":"53rd Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards - Inside","creditText":"Michael Loccisano—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/","name":"Former President Jimmy Carter Says Claims of a Rigged Election Are 'Baseless'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama Told Donald Trump to ‘Stop Whining’ About Elections","description":"President Obama delivered a series of subdued attacks against Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who he told to “stop whining” about the unsubstantiated claims that the election will be rigged in a press conference Tuesday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Qa0odyfJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-18T17:05:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qa0odyfJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/","duration":"PT2M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4538392/jimmy-carter-rigged-election-baseless/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```