As Donald Trump’s poll numbers dip following poor debate performances and allegations that he sexually harassed and assaulted an ever-growing number of women, the billionaire has stepped up claims that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are conniving to steal the election with “rigged” polling places.

Seeking to distance themselves from their party’s hapless candidate, some Republican officials have denounced Trump’s remarks, pledging their faith in the American electoral system. Pundits, meanwhile, have declared Trump’s comments historically “unprecedented.”

Trump’s claims are hardly novel, however. From the outset of the modern conservative movement, the Right has waged a war on electoral democracy by alleging that poor (especially black and brown) voters, abetted by the Democratic Party and grassroots activists, conspire year after year to snatch elections from their Republican victors.