With AP Report — US President Donald J. Trump on Friday identified the growing popularity of mail-in ballots among American voters as the “biggest risk” to his re-election bid, noting his chances is likely to depend on whether he can successfully block efforts to stop the expansion of mail-in voting in states.
Trump’s comments come as several battleground states are engaged in heated fights over plans for November’s general election, and courts are settling partisan disputes over how easy it should be to vote by mail.
Also, the concerns shared by Trump on mail-in voting has cast high stakes on his multimillion-dollar legal campaign aimed at fighting mail-in voting.
“My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits,” Trump said in an interview with Politico published Friday. “We have many lawsuits going all over. And if we don’t win those lawsuits, I think — I think it puts the election at risk.”
Mail-in voting allows voters to cast their ballot remotely, unlike the traditional voting system where voters have to exercise their franchise by getting outdoor at the polling booth, the only pattern of voting in Nigeria and many African countries.
Checks by The New Diplomat show every state has its own rules for how mail-in balloting is conducted.
While some states like Utah, vote almost exclusively by mail, in many other states, voters can choose between voting by mail without excuse or the conventional voting. And in about one-third of the US states, voters must present a valid excuse in order to be able to vote by mail. In all of these places, there are checks put in place to ensure that mail-in voting is conducted with integrity.
Further checks reveal during the 2016 and 2018 general elections, approximately 25% of US voters cast ballots by mail, which includes the handful of states that conduct elections entirely by mail and traditional absentee ballots.
Following the outbreak of the pandemic, Mail-in voting is becoming increasingly popular in the US as health officials have said voting by mail can help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But Trump has made it clear he believes widespread mail-in voting would benefit Democrats.
Trump has consistently alleged — without citing evidence — that mail voting will lead to massive electoral fraud, and the Trump’s Republican party has reportedly budgeted $20 million to fight Democratic lawsuits in at least 18 states that are trying to expand mail-in voting.
But it’s not clear how President Trump will stop the expansion of mail-in voting ahead of the US November election as many states, including some with his Republican party leaders, are moving ahead with plans that ease access to mail-in ballots.
For instance, Wisconsin, a state that swung to Trump in 2016, decided this week to send absentee ballot requests to nearly all voters before November’s elections, a step already taken by Michigan, another swing state.
Primary elections have seen a surge in mail-in voting that suggests voters are comfortable casting ballots remotely. Many states already have easy access — requiring no excuses.
“The president and his supporters are actively fighting against vote by mail when that is somewhat of a moot point,” said Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice. “In most of the country, voters are allowed to vote by mail, and many chose to do so.”
“The question isn’t whether they should be moving to vote by mail — it is happening. The question is, Are we going to be ready for that change? It is coming. It is happening.” Weiser told Associated Press (AP).
