Mail-in voting critic Donald Trump has voted in Florida’s Republican primary—with a mail-in ballot.
Local voting records obtained by Politico show that Trump, 80, returned his Republican ballot to Palm Beach County, Florida, on August 13, ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Among the contests is the race for governor, where polls have shown Rep. Byron Donalds, a recipient of the president’s endorsement, as the frontrunner.
The White House maintains there’s nothing odd about Trump, who called mail-in voting “inherently corrupt” during a speech last month, utilizing the practice.
“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 spokesperson Olivia Wales told Politico. “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.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out for comment.
In March, Trump voted by mail in a special election in the state legislature. In that race, he could have voted in person, since he had spent the previous two weekends at Mar-a-Lago, and early in-person voting was available through the latter Sunday.
Trump trashed mail-in voting the same week he cast his ballot.
“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” he complained at a roundtable event. “I call it ‘mail-in cheating,’ and we’ve got to do something about it.”
The SAVE America Act, which he has been trying to pass for months, would ban most voting by mail and require voters to present proof of citizenship in person when registering to vote. Trump urged passage of the legislation once again later Monday night in a Truth Social post.
“Earlier this month, India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, asked our Administration — How can you have Elections in the U.S. without a valid Photo ID?” he wrote. “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!”
After the Supreme Court rejected his attempt to restrict the amount of mail-in ballots that can be counted, Trump has openly toyed with the idea of calling a national emergency to assert greater control over the election process.
