Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Requests Mail-In Ballot At Same Time He Blocks Postal System Funds To Stop Such Voting
Politico: Trump Requests Mail-In Ballot For Florida Primary
The day before publicly opposing funding to accommodate an expected surge in Americans voting by mail in this year’s presidential election, President Donald Trump requested a mail-in ballot to vote in Florida’s upcoming primary. The elections website for Palm Beach County, Fla., where Trump is registered to vote, shows that mail-in ballots were requested for the president and first lady Melania Trump on Wednesday. The news was first reported by USA Today. (Semones, 8/13)
AP: Trump Admits He's Blocking Postal Cash To Stop Mail-In Votes
President Donald Trump frankly acknowledged Thursday that he’s starving the U.S. Postal Service of money in order to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots, which he worries could cost him the election. In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump explicitly noted two funding provisions that Democrats are seeking in a relief package that has stalled on Capitol Hill. Without the additional money, he said, the Postal Service won’t have the resources to handle a flood of ballots from voters who are seeking to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic. (Riechmann and Izaguirre, 8/14)
The New York Times: Trump Makes Clear His Opposition To More Money For USPS To Support Mail Voting
President Trump stirred new questions on Thursday about whether he would seek to hold up new money to the Postal Service to impede mail-in voting this fall in the middle of the pandemic. Repeating the unfounded claim that the election could be riddled with fraud if mail ballots were widely used, he made clear that he opposed Democratic demands for additional funding for both the post office and election security measures because of his opposition to mail-in voting. (Cochrane and Fuchs, 8/13)
In related news —
The Hill: Fauci Defends Voting By Mail If 'You Don't Want To Take The Chance' In Person
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Thursday invoked mail-in voting as an alternative for people who didn’t want to “take the chance” of contracting the coronavirus. Fauci, in an exclusive conversation with National Geographic as part of its event, “Stopping Pandemics,” said he believed in-person voting could be safely done with proper precautions. (Budryk, 8/13)
Politico: Supreme Court Blocks GOP Bid To Restore Rhode Island Ballot Rules Waived Because Of Virus
The Supreme Court has rebuffed an effort by Republicans to block Rhode Island officials’ agreement to waive mail-in ballot security measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. The high court on Thursday turned down an emergency application from the Republican National Committee and the Rhode Island state GOP seeking to preserve a requirement in state law that absentee ballot envelopes bear the signature of two witnesses or be certified by a notary public. (Gerstein, 8/13)
