President Donald Trump has cast another mail ballot in Florida as he continues to publicly bash the voting method as a source of fraud and push Congress to curtail the practice.
Palm Beach County voter records show that the president voted by mail in a special election for state legislative seats, and that his ballot has been counted. Early in-person voting for this contest ran through Sunday, when Trump was still at his south Florida estate.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Aides have clarified that Trump's criticism is aimed at states using universal mail-in voting rather than individual voters who might not be able to reach polling places.
Nonetheless, Trump has recently labeled mail-in voting as cheating and corrupt as hell. He is urging Congress to pass the SAVE Act, a sweeping bill that would restrict mail ballots significantly, allowing them only for select voters, such as those with disabilities, military commitments, or who are traveling on Election Day. This measure may face challenges in the closely divided Senate, even amidst Trump’s claims.
Trump has maintained a focus on mail ballots since making unproven claims that his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stemmed from fraud. Multiple U.S. courts, along with Trump's own attorney general, have found no evidence that fraud influenced the election outcome, even as the COVID-19 pandemic increased the proportion of the electorate casting mail ballots.
“We’re the only country in the world that does it that way. Corrupt as hell,” Trump stated last week during an event with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. He also noted that the SAVE Act is the biggest thing pending in Washington.
This contrasts with many countries, including European democracies, that utilize some form of mail-in voting.
We’re going to start with an executive order being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail-in ballots because they’re corrupt, Trump told reporters previously.
The president, who swayed his official residence and voter registration from New York to Florida, does not have an ongoing vote-by-mail request for all elections, meaning he must request a ballot for each election. Recently, he put out an endorsement through his Truth Social platform for a candidate in the Florida legislative race.
As Trump navigates this contradiction between personal voting practices and public stance against mail voting, the issue remains a significant and contentious topic in American politics.
