Trump Amps Up Vote-by-Mail Fight With Threat to Two States’ Money
Trump Threatens Funding Halt to Michigan Over Absentee Ballots
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump raised the stakes Wednesday in the partisan fight over voting by mail by threatening to withhold federal money from two Democratic-led states that are working to increase absentee voting because of the pandemic.
He also suggested inaccurately that absentee balloting was illegal, raising the specter that he could reject the outcome of the November election if he doesn’t win.
In tweets, Trump threatened to withhold funding for Michigan, a crucial 2020 swing state, and Nevada, unless their leaders refrain from facilitating absentee voting. Trump’s first tweet about Michigan ignored an unfolding flooding disaster in the state that could require federal aid. He later tweeted that aid was en route.
Michigan’s secretary of state announced Tuesday that all of the state’s 7.7 million registered voters will receive an application to vote by mail in August and November elections, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
The president incorrectly said that the state was sending absentee ballots to state residents, rather than just the application forms for them.
He also issued a similar threat against Nevada, which he said is considering a plan to provide mail-in ballots for its residents, a move he called “illegal” that would create “a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S.”
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said the measure was to ensure that no one in the state “has to choose between their health and their right to vote.”
She also said in a telephone interview that the funding to send out the absentee applications came from the coronavirus stimulus bill he signed.
“To threaten to withhold funding for us doing something that is perfectly legal, and also helps all citizens in our state is in my view not appropriate use of the federal government or the office of the presidency,” Benson said.
She also tweeted that her Republican counterparts in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska and West Virginia are sending absentee ballot applications to all voters.
Trump’s comments come as many states are considering expanding access to remote voting this year, especially after dozens of voters and poll workers were infected with Covid-19 after Republicans in Wisconsin refused to expand absentee voting for the state’s April 7 primary.
Wisconsin was the latest battle in a highly partisan war over mail-in voting this year, with Trump leading Republicans in arguing that it is “ripe for fraud” and benefits Democrats, although there is no evidence for either claim. Trump himself voted by mail in Florida’s primary election earlier this year.
He has said that with increased absentee balloting, “You’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany Wednesday noted a March ProPublica story that said there was “bipartisan consensus” that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud.
“The president’s right to look at this. We want a free and fair election,” she said.
Voting by mail would likely delay the results and lead to charges from Democrats and Republicans of impropriety in rejecting ballots or counting. But Trump’s suggestion of illegality could lead him to challenge the legitimacy of the entire election.
In 2018, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative to allow voters to request absentee ballots without an excuse, among other election changes. The application to vote absentee can already be downloaded from the secretary of state’s website, but Benson said she wanted to send them to ensure everyone had the opportunity to apply, even without internet access.
Trump’s threat comes as the state copes with flooding after a pair of dams near Midland, Michigan, failed. The deluge led Midland-based Dow Inc. to activate its local emergency center. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer said that downtown Midland could be under nine feet of water by Wednesday.
Trump has regularly criticized Whitmer and cheered on anti-lockdown protests in the state, which is one of the year’s biggest battlegrounds. Whitmer is a potential running-mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, as is Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto.
Kellyanne Conway, speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday suggested Whitmer was encouraging absentee ballots for political reasons.
“First of all, the governor of Michigan should receive one of those absentee ballot applications because she’s very busy auditioning for the next job as Biden’s VP when she’s denying so many Michiganders to go back to their own job,” she said.
“The president is there for the Michiganders who are suffering from the flood, suffering from Covid, a very hard-hit state, and he certainly is welcome to question why millions and millions of absentee applications are going out. What is everybody afraid of?” Conway said.
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