COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence on Monday warned supporters about "voter fraud" and the media rigging the election, echoing remarks Donald Trump has made recently on the campaign trail.
Pence called on backers to “respectfully participate” in poll watching on Election Day.
Trump tweeted on Monday morning: “Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day.”
Related: Study Finds No Evidence of Widespread Voter Fraud
Pence did not repeat Trump’s claim at his two Ohio stops in Mason and Columbus. And in an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the vice presidential candidate said the GOP ticket “will absolutely accept the results of the election."
But on Monday at the Ohio rallies, the Indiana governor’s unprompted warning of voter fraud fed into many voters’ belief that the election, as Trump has asserted, is “rigged.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday told reporters the administration is "not at all" concerned about election tampering, and "neither is Mike Pence."
Pence rejected the claim.
“I’ve got a news flash for you: The president’s press secretary doesn’t speak for me,” Pence pounced while in Columbus. "You know, they’re not worried about it because they deny it’s happening. I’m not worried about it because I know the American people are not going to let it happen.”
Pence called on supporters to personally volunteer as poll watchers on November 8.
“If you're here at a rally and you have not yet volunteered to participate in the electoral process by respectfully providing accountability at a polling place come Election Day, then you haven't yet done all that you can do,” Pence said at the Mason stop.
Pence went on to call the right to vote “the bedrock of our democracy” and told the crowd, “Voter fraud cannot be tolerated by anyone.”
“Do all you can to respectfully participate in the process and ensure the outcome, the outcome we can all be proud of,” he said.
Studies have repeatedly found that there is no evidence of the type of widespread voter fraud Trump has suggested.
