Trump Threatens Mail-In Voting Executive Order
“I have the right to do it,” President Donald Trump said, though he did not say what such a measure would entail. As more states consider action to protect voters' health, the administration takes Nevada to court over its move toward universal mail-in ballots.
Politico:
Trump Claims Right To Issue Executive Order On Vote-By-Mail
President Donald Trump on Monday claimed to have the authority to issue an executive order addressing the expected influx of mail-in voting in the November election and said he hadn’t ruled out doing so, in spite of the Constitution’s expressly giving states the right to run their elections. “I have the right to do it,” Trump insisted, adding: “We haven’t got there yet, but we’ll see what happens.” (Oprysko, 8/3)
Reuters:
Trump Vows To Sue Nevada To Block Universal Mail-In Ballots
President Donald Trump vowed on Monday he would sue Nevada after the state’s Democratic lawmakers passed a bill to send mail-in ballots to every voter ahead of November’s presidential election in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail will lead to rampant fraud, wrote on Twitter the legislation approved on Sunday was an “illegal late night coup” and told reporters his administration was already preparing a lawsuit. “We will be suing in Nevada. And that’s already been taken care of, we’ll probably file something tomorrow,” he said during a White House briefing. (Ax and Whitesides, 8/3)
Politico:
Trump’s Assault On Mail Voting Threatens His Reelection Bid
Donald Trump’s all-out war on mail voting is backfiring in battleground states. New private polling shared first with POLITICO showed that Republicans have become overwhelmingly concerned about mail balloting, which Trump has claimed without evidence, will lead to widespread voter fraud. A potentially decisive slice of Trump’s battleground-state base — 15 percent of Trump voters in Florida, 12 percent in Pennsylvania and 10 percent in Michigan — said that getting a ballot in the mail would make them less likely to vote in November. (Cadelago and Montellaro, 8/3)
Democrat Joe Biden weighs in —
Reuters:
Biden Assails Trump For 'Bald-Faced Lies' About Voting By Mail
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Monday that President Donald Trump was telling “bald-faced lies” about voting by mail to distract from his own failures, after Trump last week suggested it could be cause to delay the election. Biden’s remarks were his strongest on the issue since Trump, who trails the presumptive Democratic nominee in opinion polls, tweeted on Thursday that he would not trust the results of an election that included widespread mail voting - a measure many observers see as critical during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Martina, 8/3)
In other news on voting by mail —
AP:
Judge Extends Minnesota Vote-By-Mail Changes To November
A judge on Monday extended changes in Minnesota’s absentee ballot rules to the November general election. Ramsey County Judge Sara Grewing approved the agreement allowing Minnesota voters to submit their mail-in or absentee ballots in the Nov. 3 general election without witness signatures, the Star Tribune reported. (8/4)
NPR:
Michigan Republicans Split Over Mail-In Voting Amid State's Primary
Michigan's primary is on Tuesday, and the state's Republicans are debating among themselves how much they should embrace mail-in voting as President Trump tries to cast doubt on it. (Censki, 8/3)
