MANCHESTER, N.H. — Mike Pence tamped down the prospect of a “rigged” election during a town hall in New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon, telling a woman in the crowd that an individual’s involvement in their local election process is “the greatest vanguard of integrity for voting.”
For the second time in recent weeks, an audience member confronted Pence about the prospect of a tainted outcome in the presidential election.
“What can you guys do – what’s being done to ensure that that’s not going to happen [and] that it’s going to be a fair – a fair election?” the woman asked Pence, suggesting to him that voting machines could be “rigged” by hackers.
Pence called for the passage of state laws that require proof of identification to vote at polling places, but he also encouraged individuals to register in their local precincts and to be poll watchers on Election Day – an opportunity typically regulated by state elections offices to monitor the election process at polling locations.
“The truth of the matter is that the integrity of the one person, one vote is at the very core of democracy and that happens one precinct at a time,” Pence told the New Hampshire town hall of about 200 people. “And the truth of the matter is, you are the greatest vanguard for integrity in voting in New Hampshire.”
Donald Trump, Pence’s running mate, has stoked concerns in recent weeks among his supporters that the voting process could be flawed by talking about a "rigged" election.
At a rally in Altoona, Pennsylvania, last week, Trump told his supporters that everybody should be “watching” to ensure that he isn't "cheated out of this election.”
He told the rally that Hillary Clinton's campaign "can't beat what's happening here," adding, "the only way they can beat it, in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, if in certain sections of the state they cheat, OK?" Trump asserted to the crowd.
The Trump-Pence campaign is also actively recruiting “Trump Election Observers.”
Pence also continued his push for the expansion of voter ID laws in states across the country, telling the crowd he sees “nothing wrong with asking people to have a picture ID to exercise the blood-bought franchise of voting.”
NBC News' Ali Vitali contributed to this report.
