Trump’s suggestion to vote twice could lead to chaos

Officials say safeguards are in place to prevent illegal election behavior

If a significant number of Florida voters follow President Donald Trump’s suggestion and attempt to vote twice, it could lengthen lines at neighborhood polling places and increase the potential for Election Day chaos.

In his most recent attempt to disparage voting by mail, he suggested Wednesday in North Carolina that voters test election security safeguards themselves. Vote by mail, he recommended, then go again to try to vote a second time in person.

Trump said that would see if the safeguards that prevent one voter from casting more than one ballot actually work.

Safeguards do work, South Florida elections officials say. But largescale attempts to test them out in the way Trump suggested would have repercussions.

“If people en masse demand to commit crimes at their polling places, if they did it by the thousands, certainly it would cause chaos,” Steve Vancore, spokesman for Broward Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci, said Thursday. “But the important thing is they can’t get past the system.”

Each person gets only one vote in American elections. Doing it twice in the same election is illegal. In Florida, state law provides that “whoever willfully

votes more than one ballot at any election commits a felony of the third degree.”

A voter who shows up at a polling place, after having cast a vote-by-mail ballot, won’t be able to vote, Suzy Trutie, a deputy Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections, said Thursday.

“When you get to your precinct, we are going to tell you, ‘You cannot vote because you already voted by mail and we received your ballot on this day,’” Trutie said. If someone votes in person, and a mail ballot arrives later “we are not going to count your VBM ballot.”

Antonacci and supervisors of elections Christina White in Miami-Dade County and Wendy Sartory Link in Palm Beach County repeatedly have said there isn’t a problem with people casting multiple ballots.

Each supervisor said that the systems in place allow processing of a ballot — by mail, at a regional early voting center or at a neighborhood polling place on election day. After that ballot is processed, the voter rolls show a person has voted — and won’t be allowed to vote again.

So, for example, once a vote-bymail ballot is logged, that voter won’t be able to vote at an early voting site. Or if a person votes in person, and then a mail ballot arrives at the elections office, it will be flagged during processing.

“There’s no risk that somebody votes in person and by mail. Whichever happens first is what gets counted,” Link said in an interview in August.

And in July, Link said, “You’ll get voting history immediately upon — within 15 seconds, anyway — of getting you either checking into vote or by sending your vote by mail to go through.”

White explained it this way on

Facebook Live in July: “We’re on a live system. The first ballot in will cancel any other ballot.”

One of the reasons long lines at the polls have been mostly avoided in recent years is the widespread use of mail voting and early voting. That’s relieved pressure on polling places by reducing the volume of people they serve.

If a large number of people took up Trump on his suggestion, voting by mail and then attempting to vote in person, it would delay inperson voting for everyone else because poll workers would have to begin the process of checking in people attempting to vote again and then turning them away — while other people wait in line.

That’s the scenario Vancore said would be problematic. Trutie, however, said she didn’t anticipate a major problem if that happens. There are so many voting locations on Election Day, an increase in volume wouldn’t overwhelm the system.

In the 2016 presidential election, 28.5% of Floridians voted by mail, 40.4% voted at regional early voting centers, and 31.1% vote at their neighborhood polling stations on Election Day. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many more voters than usual voted by mail in the March presidential primary and the August state and local primaries, and the same is expected in November.

Trump has repeatedly sought to discredit vote by mail as rife with fraud, even though there isn’t evidence to support his assertions of massive irregularities.

That’s apparently had an effect, at least among Republican voters. A Quinnipiac University Poll of Florida likely voters released Thursday showed significant differences in how people plan to vote

Mail voting was the choice of 32% — picked by 43% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans.

In-person voting on Election

Day was the plan for 42% of likely voters — picked by 57% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats.

Another 23% said they planned to use in-person early voting before Election Day, the choice of 32% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans.

The numbers show Trump raising concerns about mail voting may have backfired in Florida, a must-win state for the president. Republicans have long relied on mail-in ballots, and that’s helped them win many statewide elections. After months of anti-mail voting commentary from Trump, the Florida Republican Party sought to reassure its registered voters that mail voting in the state is OK.

Then last month, the president shifted. He said mail voting was good — at least in Florida.