Republican Texas Lt.-Gov. Dan Patrick dismissed mail-in voting Friday as “a scam by the Democrats to steal the [2020] election.”
Patrick was responding to criticism that the Republican Party and President Donald Trump are opposed to mail-in voting because it prompts more minority voters to cast a ballot.
The Texas official responded by saying mail-in voting used to be condemned by both major political parties as a process that was subject to fraud. (Texas Lt.-Gov. Dan Patrick Says Jailed Salon Owner Should Be ‘Home With Her Kids … For Mother’s Day’)
“So even the Democrats know this,” Patrick said, pointing to an Democratic election judge in Philadelphia who “is facing 15 years in prison” for repeat voting. “Look, when you have an opportunity to steal a vote, the Democrats will take advantage of it, and this is what it’s all about,” Patrick said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is proposing a $3.6 billion bill to establish mail-in voting — which she has called “Voting at Home.” The Democratic California congresswoman has argued that the method is a way to make voting safer during the coronavirus pandemic and to help the United States Postal Service.
Patrick also dismissed claims that mail-in voting is aimed at increasing safety for seniors, 65 years of age and older. “Well, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] put out a report last weekend, you talked about it on Fox, that 80% of Americans who have died from the coronavirus are 80-plus, in some states it’s 85-plus. So we already have mail-in voting today for any senior in the country who is 65 and older, so we’re protecting that population.”
“This is a scam by the Democrats to steal the election,” he insisted, asking Fox News host Ed Henry if he had ever mistakenly received somebody else’s mail or had his own mail stolen. (RELATED: Joe Scarborough Claims ‘A Lot’ Of Republicans ‘Don’t Want’ Black People To Vote By Mail)
“We know that during a voting cycle, that people move, some people die. We are going to have millions of ballots across this country going out to people who no longer live there or who have died, and it opens up the door for fraudulent voting, one at a time or many at a time.”
Patrick argued that with so many elections being “so close” it would be easy to “swing the balance easily … and steal thousands of votes.”
Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol May 14, 2020 in Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi held a weekly news conference to fill questions from members of the press. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“This will destroy America if we allow this to happen, especially when the CDC has been very clear that people over 65 are the most vulnerable, and they can already vote by mail.”
The Trump administration is opposed to mass mail-in voting and on Wednesday threatened to withhold federal funds from states that practice it. President Donald Trump maintains that voting from home is just another way to enable voter fraud.