President Trump warned in all capital letters that foreign countries would try to taint the 2020 election by printing mail-in ballots.
Trump tweeted Monday that “millions” of mail-in ballots would be “rigged.” He offered no evidence to support the claim that a foreign country would be able to pull off the massive effort to spoil millions of mail-in ballots.
RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2020
Trump has come out swinging against mail-in voting, as support for voting from home grows in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump and Republicans have argued that mail-in voting would benefit Democrats and be rampant with fraud.
Five states, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii, already conduct universal vote-by-mail. Another 29 states and the District of Columbia allow any voter to request a mailed ballot without giving an excuse.
Trump told Politico last week that mail-in voting could be a huge threat to his reelection. He voted absentee in Florida this year, even though he was in the state when polls were open.
“My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits,” Trump said of legal challenges against vote-by-mail. “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.”
For the first time last month, Twitter put a fact-check label on a pair of “misleading” tweets from the president in which he claimed mail-in ballots would lead to voter fraud.
