President Trump has requested a mail-in vote for Tuesday’s Florida primary election, despite weeks of criticism of the practice. Ballots were mailed Wednesday to both President and First Lady Melania Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort, which Mr Trump cites as his legal address, according to online Palm Beach County election records.
Both voted earlier by mail for the primary presidential preference in March, according to records.
After several allegations that voting via email was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.
“Whether you call it Voting by Post or Absentee Voting, in Florida the electoral system is safe and secure, tried and true,” Mr. Trump tweeted last Tuesday. “Florida’s voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats’ efforts for change), so in Florida I encourage everyone to request a Ballot & Vote by mail!”
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump said Thursday he opposes the Democrats’ demands to increase funding for the U.S. Postal Service because the money would be used to facilitate post-vote voting for the November election. Recent operational changes to the Postal Service have severely delayed the delivery of mail and raised concerns about how the service will handle the likely influx of mail-in votes for the November elections.
But later Thursday, he returned the course, told reporters he would not sign regulations to support the nation’s mail carrier, CBS News campaigner Nicole Sganga reported. “One of the reasons the post office needs so much money is that all these millions of ballots are coming in from nowhere,” Mr. Trump said, voting by mail without proof in discredit.
Mr. Trump and the GOP’s campaign prompted Nevada to file its new vote-by-post law. Nevada officials are joining several states that plan to automatically send voters emails. Two states, California and Vermont, moved earlier this summer to adopt automatic ballot papers for postal messages.
Five other states have relied on e-mail voting since even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about personal voting, but there is no evidence to support Mr. Trump’s claim that voting by mail leads to widespread fraud.
Voters in Florida must request a mail-in ballot to receive one.
Statewide personal early voting began Saturday in Florida, while the state continues to struggle with a large number of coronavirus cases, marked by more than 8,800 deaths and at least 550,000 known virus cases since the pandemic began.
Voters primarily choose party nominees for Congress and the state Legislature. While both parties have sent voters to post ballots in the last election, there has been stronger pressure this year during the pandemic.
More than 4.2 million Florida voters cast their ballots by mail, and nearly 1.5 million returned by Saturday morning, according to a State Department website. That compares with nearly 1.3 million castes in the entire 2016 primary election.
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