Trump gives OK to Fla. mail voting
Democrat-run Nevada different story, he says
WASHINGTON — Evenasheencouraged Floridians to vote by mail, President Donald Trump continued his verbal war Tuesday against a new Nevada vote-by-mail law, and press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany cited a Review-journal story as a reason for the president’s position.
After consistently bashing voting by mail as fraud-friendly, Trump posted a tweet Tuesday that urged Floridians tovotebymail.
“In Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!” Trump wrote.
It was a pivot that showed the usually stubborn chief executive moving away from opposition to universal voting by mail and instead citing problems election officials have faced, including the need to count record numbers of mail-in ballots after state officials expanded voting by mail to make elections safer during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump and his campaign also argue that if election officials are grappling with such problems during primaries, counting mail-in ballots in the higher-turnout November election will be a nightmare.
Mcenany began her daily briefing by calling Tuesday “day 42 of the botched New York City primary, where still there is no election results in one congressional race.” The comment was a reference to a Democratic primary in the 12th Congressional District pitting Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney against progressive challenger Suraj Patel.
Overwhelmed with ballots
Mcenany noted that The New York Times had reported that the delay is due to “the deluge of 400,000 mail-in ballots,” for which election officials were unprepared.
One unidentified election official told the paper that the state’s problem in counting mailed-in ballots is the sort of thing that happens if you plan a dinner party for 10 people and then find out 100 people will attend.
In the November general election, at least 77 percent of American voters will be able to vote by mail, according to a Washington Post tracker of state rules.
It’s not clear what Trump meant when he contended that Florida had cleaned up its system.
But a major difference between Florida’s vote-by-mail system and how Nevadans will vote under a newly passed election law is that Floridians have to request vote-by-mail ballots.
The Nevada bill, which passed on party-line votes during a weekend special session and was signed by Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, requires election officials to send ballots to all active registered voters.
Mcenany also praised a May 19 story in the Review-journal for “extensive and very good reporting on Nevada’s first all-mail primary election.”
The story included a photo of discarded ballots sent out ahead of the June 9 primary and quoted a postal worker who said many of those ballots were “no good” because the recipients were dead or had moved.
No fraud in primary
In response to Mcenany’s remarks, Nevada Democratic Party rapid response director Madison Mundy sent out a statement that reads as follows:
“The Trump administration is falsely claiming fraud in Nevada’s allmail primary election in an attempt to weaken the integrity of our election system. Our Republican Secretary of State made clear in recent testimony that there were no instances of fraud during our June primary. The fact is, Assembly Bill 4 ensures eligible Nevada voters do not have to choose between their health and their constitutional right to vote by providing additional options to participate safely in this election.”
Asked during a briefing why he supports voting by mail in Florida but not in Nevada, Trump responded that “Florida has a great Republican governor,” has a well-established system for voting by mail and “is a very well-run state.”
Nevada is run by a Democratic governor who said “let’s just send out millions of ballots and the post office cannot be prepared,” Trump continued. “In the case of Nevada, they’re going to be voting in a matter of weeks.”
At a news conference Monday, Sisolak rejected Trump’s criticisms.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202662-7391. Follow @Debrajsaunders on Twitter.