"Safe and Secure": Donald Trump Encourages Floridians to Vote by Mail

August 4, 2020 Topic: Politics Blog Brand: 2020 Election Tags: Donald TrumpFloridaAxiosHBOTrump2020 Election

"Safe and Secure": Donald Trump Encourages Floridians to Vote by Mail

Confused yet? 

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday insisting that Floridians should participate in mail-in voting because it’s “safe and secure.”

The president and GOP lawmakers have typically opposed mail-in voting, saying that if adopted, Democrats would likely interfere with the results of the election.

"Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True," Trump tweeted. "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 has suggested in the past to postpone the upcoming elections, as he rebuked the process of mail-in voting. He said that if it becomes universal, it’ll be the “most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history," as there would be boosted voter fraud.

Republicans who side with Trump’s prior beliefs fear fraud activity including ballot harvesting, ballots to the deceased, ballots to those who have moved or if ballots simply get lost in the mail.

Democrats say that voter fraud doesn't happen often.

Due to Trump’s recent reversed opinion encouraging Florida to participate in mail-in voting, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that he’s consistently supported absentee voting and not “mass mail-out voting,” which would create fraud.

“He’s been unmistakably clear that when you have this mass mail-out voting like what Nevada wants to do, the consequences are real,” McEnany said.

Some states that have adopted the method would require voters to complete applications, filling out personal information needed to vote in the upcoming election. Once the forms are submitted, the voter then receives the ballot. Other states -- which has prompted an uproar of political debates -- allow voters to receive the ballot without filling out an application.

On Monday, Trump threatened the state of Nevada’s adopted practice of universal mail-in voting that would permit eligible citizens to get the ballot itself without an application. Lawmakers and public health experts have encouraged mail-in voting, as it reduces the risk of contracting the virus from ballot boxes or person-to-person contact when going to vote.

Despite the health advantages of mail-in voting, Trump fears how long it’ll take to count the ballots, which means the “election could be decided two months later,” he said in an Axios interview that aired Monday on HBO.

Rachel Bucchino is a reporter at the National Interest. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill.

Image: Reuters.