TRUMP THREATENS STATES TO NOT ALLOW MAIL-IN VOTING

…President Trump railing about mail-in voting

Per Trump: “I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”

I find it interesting that, as the president is threatening to cut federal funding to states that are sending out applications for mail-in  ballots, while the GOP is pushing “voting by mail”.

At least, our idiot president is aware enough to understand that the more people that actually vote, that is a better chance that he will not be re-elected.

Because of that fact, President Trump began escalating his campaign to discredit the integrity of mail-in balloting.  He therefore threatened to “hold up” federal funding to Michigan and Nevada in response to their plans to increase voting by mail, for reducing the public’s exposure to the coronavirus.

As usual for Trump,  he made this claim without any evidence, as he wrongly called the two states’ plans “illegal,” and he incorrectly claimed that Michigan’s “rogue” secretary of state is planning to mail ballots to all voters. As also usual, Trump has it all wrong as the state is planning to send applications for mail-in ballots to all voters, not the ballots themselves.

“This was done illegally and without authorization by the rogue Secretary of State,” Trump tweeted about Michigan. “I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”

Once again, Trump was required to correct his error as he suggested he would not need to withhold federal money.  However, Trump did not retreat from his false claim that both of these states are taking steps that will encourage “corruption and voter fraud”.  A spokesman for the Trump campaign asserted that the Michigan secretary of state did not have legal authority to send ballot applications to all voters, a claim that the secretary totally disputed.

The Democrats are working to bolster mail-in voting and are taking other steps to make balloting easier this November.  However, the Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) said he believes it is “much too early” to make a decision on how voters will cast their ballots for the presidential general election. Following the last-minute postponement of Ohio’s primary election in March and a number of lawsuits, state officials agreed to move mail-in voting through the end of April.

Speaking to reporters later at the White House, the president claimed without any proof, or statements from any news sources that mail-in ballots lead to “forgeries” and “thousands and thousands of fake ballots.”

“I think just common sense would tell you that massive manipulation can take place,” he said. “And you do have cases of fraudulent ballots where they actually print them and they give them to people to sign, maybe the same person signs them with different writing, different pens. I don’t know. It’s a lot of things can happen.”

This is a totally false statement.

The president’s aggressive and unfounded statements drew immediate rebukes from Democrats and voting rights activists, who accused Trump of intentionally sowing mistrust in US elections.

Trump’s claims that absentee voting will encourage cheating are at odds with the real activity of state and national GOP leaders.  These leaders are mounting aggressive field operations, including mass mailings of ballot applications.  They are encouraging their voters to cast ballots by mail and GOP officeholders in various states, including Nevada, are also backing expansions of absentee voting because of the pandemic.

Trump’s latest attacks show how voting access has become a major battleground in the 2020 presidential race.  Both parties have invested tens of millions of dollars into dozens of lawsuits and voter outreach across the country for trying to shape how ballots will be cast amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Democratic strategists have pointed to Trump’s tweets targeting battleground or Democratic-controlled states.  They see this as evidence that he is trying to gain an edge in states that could decide the outcome in November.

Even though they noted that many Republican states are similarly expanding mail balloting, somehow Trump is not criticizing those.  “They’re doing this because they think it gives them some sort of political advantage,” said Guy Cecil, a former aide to Hillary Clinton who leads the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action.  “They see what Trump’s poll numbers are, and their philosophy is simple: ‘If we can’t win with the electorate we have, then we try to create an environment that gives us an electorate that we can win with.’ ”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump is simply trying to prevent voting fraud. “The president is right to look at this,” she told reporters. “We want a free and fair election, and that’s a fair concern.”

Trump has repeatedly spoken out against mail-in voting, asserting without any evidence that mail-in voting is subject to widespread fraud and it has hurt Republicans in previous elections.  

However, multiple studies have shown that Republicans and Democrats can both benefit with increased mail-in voting. Cases of ballot fraud are rare and have consistently been at less than 1%..

Trump himself voted absentee in Florida’s primary in March, saying he did so “because I’m allowed to,” adding that he was at the White House and out of state.

Republican officeholders in at least 16 states that do not have all-mail-in elections have encouraged people to vote absentee during this coronavirus pandemic.  This is according to a poll last month by The Washington Post.

Apparently, the president is aware that the Trump campaign itself is asking its supporters to request absentee ballots, such as was in an email sent to Pennsylvania voters that urged them to “request your ballot and cast your vote from your own home.”

Campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, said that the campaign is against mailing all voters ballots because it could lead to fraud, but, “it is responsible to advise our voters of what the laws are in their states.”

To make things even more confusing, as they encourage mail balloting among their own voters, a number of GOP organizations, including the Republican National Committee have followed Trump’s lead in accusing Democrats of encouraging fraud and seeking to put restrictions on mail voting.  

The RNC alone has committed $20 million to fight all liberal-backed lawsuits seeking easier electoral access.

Trump’s political advisers have said he has made clear that he doesn’t like mail balloting and doesn’t want states to expand it.  “He’s not telling us to reverse current rules,” said one senior campaign adviser who as usual, only spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.  “He just doesn’t want it expanded or people to use it for other reasons. He thinks the more mail voting there is, the more fraud there is.”  Which hasn't been proven to be the case.

Several Trump advisers said they viewed his attacks on Michigan in particular as being very unwise, especially given internal GOP polling showing that he is trailing in the state.  Trump’s tweet caught several campaign advisers by surprise, including Republican National Committee chair and former Michigan state party chair Ronna McDaniel, and including Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Internal campaign polling has consistently shown Trump seriously trailing former vice president Joe Biden in Michigan.  A Fox News poll in mid-April found Biden leading Trump by 49% to 41% among all registered voters there.  The latest national poll showed Biden ahead 50% to 39%.

Trump took aim at Michigan a day after its secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, announced a plan to send absentee ballot applications to all of its 7.7 million voters for primary elections in August and general elections in November.

Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson noted in an interview that at least four Republican states: Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska and West Virginia, they have decided to send ballot applications to all voters, just as she did. “It is not a partisan issue to ensure that every citizen can vote,” she said. “Our hope is that the misuse of federal funding that’s being threatened is simply that, a threat. It’s certainly illegal to predicate federal funding on a political agenda.”

In his tweet threatening to curtail federal funds, Trump flagged the Treasury Department as well as Russ Vought, the acting head of the White House Office of Management and Budget.  He offered no details about what money he would hold up.  Later he told reporters that he spoke with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) but said they didn’t discuss the withholding of federal funds.  He added, “I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”

McEnany said Trump’s tweet “was meant to alert the OMB, who wanted to be very careful as we send trillions of dollars to states that we keep this important point in mind.”

Several current and former budget officials said the majority of federal assistance for states is distributed according to formulas set by Congress that would be difficult, if not impossible, for the president to unilaterally alter the Congressional decisions.

Republicans are more united about Trump’s attack on Nevada, which has moved to a largely mail-in system for its June 9 primary.  Republican Party leaders have criticized the state for deciding to mail ballots, not just ballot applications, to all active and inactive voters. That could allow bad actors to obtain ballots sent to voters who have moved or died, they argue.

“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 US,” Trump said in his second tweet. “They can’t! If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections.”

His criticism is complicated by the fact that Nevada’s secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske, is a Republican.  A federal judge upheld her decision to mail ballots to all voters in Nevada’s upcoming primary. Democrats are now suing to ensure that in-person voting is also available on Election Day.

Cegavske’s office issued a statement defending her decision, noting that “many safeguards” are in place to prevent fraud, including signature requirements and bar code tracking.

The state’s Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, was more pointed in his tweet: “For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous.”

The president is going to have a tough time stopping mail-in voting that has been around for too long, and it’s never had the voter fraud that Trump is as usual, lying about.

Copyright G. Ater 2020