Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams expressed support for an increase in mail-in ballots to combat the spread of the coronavirus and dismissed concerns about voter fraud as a “myth.”
Abrams said Tuesday morning on MSNBC, “The reality is, if we go ahead and get mail-in ballots to as many voters as possible, you shorten the lines, which means you can move as many people out of needing to be in-person.”
Abrams continued that such a proposal “lets you focus on those who must show up to vote in person: the disabled, those who have language barriers, the homeless, and those who have been displaced by COVID-19 and do not have mailing addresses that are stable, or those whose absentee ballots don’t reach them.”
“But here’s the thing,” she added. “Voter fraud is, by and large, a myth. The president of the United States, number one, voted by mail just recently, and so it worked for him.”
Abrams went on to suggest that President Trump doesn’t support mail-in ballots because he doesn’t want every eligible person to vote.
“The concern he has is that it will actually work for every American. Our elections are not partisan. The choices we make are, but the elections themselves should be available to every eligible American citizen. And that is why we are all working so hard to ensure that we can not only flatten the curve but ensure our democracy. What we saw happen in Wisconsin was a travesty and a tragedy, and it does not have to happen.”
Both Abrams and her campaign manager have blamed “voter suppression” for her 2018 loss in Georgia’s gubernatorial race to businessman Brian Kemp.
It was reported this month that over 28 million mail-in ballots have been lost over the last decade, and a court briefing in New Mexico showed that thousands of ineligible voters in the state are eligible to receive mail-in ballots, including many dead people.
Last year, the Heritage Foundation compiled a list of over 1,000 documented cases of voter fraud, yielding 938 criminal convictions across 47 states.
Democrats across the country, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former first lady Michelle Obama, have called for an increase in mail-in voting to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to statewide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it,” Trump said earlier this month. “Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”
