The Trump administration could withhold funding from states who turn to mail-in ballots for the November election thanks to coronavirus, President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday.
Trump’s comments on Twitter are his most recent rebuttal to Democrats urging the use of mail-in ballots in November. Trump argues the practice would cause widespread voter fraud, and explicitly threatened to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada should they pursue the policy.
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
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
Despite Trump’s assertion, however, the mailers Michigan sent out were absentee voter applications, not absentee ballots themselves. (RELATED: Maryland Reestablishes Mail-In Only Special Election, Resolving Inner-Conflict)
Republicans have joined Trump in pushing against calls for a mail-in election, launching the ProtectTheVote program in response. Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe mail-in ballots threaten the integrity of elections, according to a poll from the Republican National Committee.
“The RNC and the Trump campaign are aggressively fighting back against the Democrats’ assault on the integrity of our elections. All across the country, Democrats are trying to use coronavirus and the courts to legalize ballot harvesting, implement a nationwide mail-in ballot system, and eliminate nearly every safeguard in our elections,” the ProtectTheVote website reads.
California has already decided to send mail-in ballots to every registered voter before November, but it is the only state to have done so.