WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump took advantage of mail-in voting this week in a special election in Florida, even as he criticized mail-in ballots as “cheating” in his push for national legislation to enact new regulations on voting.
Trump voted by mail ballot in the Palm Beach County election held on Tuesday for a state senator and a state representative, according to county public records.
At an event in Memphis, Tennessee on Monday, Trump dismissed the option with unfounded allegations that mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud.
“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all. And it’s part of Homeland Security,” Trump said at a roundtable on crime.
Trump said on Sunday his fellow Republicans should not reach an agreement on funding the Department of Homeland Security until Democrats in Congress approve a bill – the SAVE America Act – that requires people registering to vote to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
Trump also pushed for Democratic approval of other items he wants added to the bill, including banning transgender women from women’s sports, outlawing “transgender mutilation of our children” and restricting mail-in ballots except in cases of illness, disability, military service or travel.
The White House said Trump is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections but lives primarily at the White House.
“As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel – but universal mail-in voting should not be allowed because it’s highly susceptible to fraud,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said in an email.
However, election fraud is rare in voting by mail. Routine methods and the decentralized nature of U.S. elections make it very hard to interfere with mailed ballots, experts say.
It was not the first time Trump has voted by mail. He voted by absentee ballot in the 2018 midterm elections, a White House spokesman said at the time. Trump had requested an absentee ballot but decided to vote in person in 2020.
(reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Michelle Nichols and)
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