President Donald Trump on Monday falsely reiterated that mail-in voting is insecure and fosters widespread election fraud, only for Politico to report that the MAGA leader himself once again voted by mail last week to participate in the Republican primary in Florida.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales decried the matter as a “non-story” in a statement Monday to the outlet, using the opportunity to lobby for Trump’s SAVE America Act — which would require Americans to prove their citizenship and show photo ID to vote.
“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,” wrote Wales.
The White House spokesperson continued Monday, “As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C. This is a non-story.”
Politico cited Palm Beach County voting records in reporting Trump requested his ballot in July and returned it Thursday. He previously voted by mail in Palm Beach County in 2020 and during a special election there earlier this year despite routinely condemning the practice.
Trump reiterated his stance in a suggestive Truth Social post Monday, writing: “India’s last Election had 646,000,000 Voters! Less than 1% voted by mail, and every single Voter had to have a VALID Photo Identity Document. We need to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, now!”
While the MAGA leader falsely claimed during his State of the Union address in February that “cheating is rampant in our elections” and called for “no more crooked mail-in ballots,” there is no evidence of widespread fraud in either in-person or mail-in voting.
Trump has failed to find enough Republican support to push the SAVE Act through Congress.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press
He was further thwarted in July when a federal appeals court ruled against his administration from implementing stricter mail-in voting rules ahead of the midterm elections, and when a federal judge last week ruled against his executive order to create a federal voter list.
Trump lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden during a time of increased mail-in voting as a result of the pandemic, and has called mail-in voting “corrupt as hell” and the cause of “MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD,” stating Democrats support it because “they cheat.”
He ultimately appears determined to drastically alter the voting process himself, however, and famously excused his own penchant for mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 election.
Trump told reporters at the time, “Now, if somebody has to mail it in because they’re sick or, by the way, because they live in the White House and they have to vote in Florida and they won’t be in Florida, if there’s a reason for it, that’s OK. If there’s a reason.”