Trump: States’ mail-in ballots ‘illegal’
Threatens to hold aid from Michigan, Nevada
President Donald Trump took a page from his Ukraine scandal playbook Wednesday and threatened to withhold federal aid for Michigan and Nevada if the states allow residents to vote by mail in November’s general election.
Mr. Trump, who was impeached last year for holding up $391 million in U.S. military assistance to
Ukraine while pressuring the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, insisted in a couple of fact-challenged tweets the Democratic-led states would break the law if they let all residents vote via absentee mail-in ballots.
“Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” Mr. Trump wrote in one tweet.
About an hour later, he thumbed out another message directed at Nevada.
“Nevada ‘thinks’ that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t!” Mr. Trump posted. “If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections.”
Mr. Trump didn’t specify which funds he would withhold, although any attempt to freeze resources approved by Congress would almost certainly draw legal challenges. The president has made similar threats in the past without following through.
Despite Mr. Trump’s assertion, Michigan has not sent out 7.7 million absentee ballots.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced Tuesday her office would send out applications for absentee ballots to all registered voters — not the actual ballots — in a bid to avoid overcrowding at polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Following a wave of backlash, Mr. Trump uncharacteristically deleted his initial Michigan tweet and replaced it with one clarifying that Ms. Benson is sending out “applications” for ballots, not the ballots themselves.
Still, Mr. Trump’s charge that Ms. Benson’s move was “illegal” is incorrect.
States have wide discretion in deciding how to hold elections, and the COVID-19 crisis has forced many of them to come up with creative solutions for socially distanced voting.
Several other states — including Pennsylvania — are pondering or have already implemented vote-by-mail systems similar to the one enacted by Michigan.
Mr. Trump himself even cast a mail-in absentee ballot in Florida’s GOP primary in March — and that vote has come under scrutiny.
His Florida residency is based on his private Mar-aLago club. But the local township says Mar-a-Lago can’t be registered both as a private club and a residence, raising concerns as to whether Mr. Trump can legally vote in the state.
Despite the apparent hypocrisy, Mr. Trump took his Nevada and Michigan threats to a new level by tagging White House budget czar Russ Vought in his tweets.
Mr. Vought implemented Mr. Trump’s order to freeze military cash for Ukraine last summer while the president pressed the European country’s leader for “a favor” in the form of an investigation into debunked corruption accusations against Mr. Biden. Despite playing a major role in the Ukraine scandal, Mr. Vought refused to testify in the House impeachment inquiry.
Mr. Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting appears to be politically selective.
The president did not voice any concern about voter fraud after a Republican candidate won a closely watched congressional election in California last week that used the exact same vote-by-mail process that he’s now slamming Michigan and Nevada over.
Michigan and Nevada are considered crucial swing states in November’s presidential contest, and Mr. Trump’s chances at winning re-election could be severely hampered by a loss in either state.
Echoing Mr. Trump’s dubious voter fraud claims, Republicans across the nation have embarked on a sweeping campaign to limit mailin voting amid revelations that widespread access to absentee ballots could boost Democratic turnout.