Trump is melting down as states like Michigan and Nevada have announced plans to increase mail-in voting for the presidential election in November.
Trump first went on the warpath against Michigan:
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!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
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Then he ranted and misinformed about Nevada:
State of 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! If they do, “I think†I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
Trump is wildly misinforming about mail-in voting. Voting by mail is not voter fraud. The only case of election fraud carried with absentee ballot involved a Republican House candidate in North Carolina. Mail-in voting is a legal vote that doesn’t benefit either party, so by discouraging mail-in voting, Trump is discouraging people who may vote for him from voting.
States do not need authorization from the federal government to change their vote by mail rules. Presidential elections are state-run. The Secretary of State in each state runs the election and has the power to adjust their ballot policies. The federal government does not get to oversee or authorize state-run elections.
Trump is melting down because sending a ballot to every voter will increase turnout and cause more people to vote, which is bad news for a president who needs a low turnout base election to win.
Mail-in voting also makes it more difficult for the Russians and foreign governments to interfere in the election. If people are mailing paper ballots, it is impossible for interference to meddle with the results. If people vote over a longer period of time, a Russian disinformation campaign for Trump won’t help him on election day.
Trump is raging because the coronavirus has made the 2020 election more difficult for him to steal.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
