President Trump on Friday said he’s confident the general election in November won’t be delayed by the coronavirus, but he rejected the idea of having every state prepare to conduct mail-in voting.
The president, speaking at the daily White House briefing on the pandemic, made clear he does not support using vote-by-mail as a backstop in the event the outbreak keeps people from going to the polls.
“No, because I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” said Trump, who has levied baseless accusations about voter fraud that he claims kept him from winning the popular vote in 2016. “I think people should vote with ID, voter ID. I think voter ID is very important, and the reason they don’t want voter ID is because they intend to cheat.”
“It shouldn’t be mail-in voting,” he added. “It should be you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself. You don’t send it in the mail where people can pick up — all sorts of bad things can happen … by the time it gets in and is tabulated.”
Democrats have pushed for additional funding to bolster mail-in and absentee voting availability. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others argue that voting by mail could be necessary in the event the virus is still prevalent and keeps poll workers and voters from casting their ballots in November.
The coronavirus relief package signed into law last week by Trump included $400 million for states to beef up preparations for primaries and the general election during the coronavirus crisis. Democrats had initially pushed for $4 billion.
Trump and other Republicans have largely rejected the idea of widespread vote-by-mail, with some arguing it would harm the electoral prospects of GOP candidates.
The president on Friday said the general election will go forward as scheduled Nov. 3, even though numerous states have postponed their primaries or moved them to all-mail ballots amid the pandemic.
In Wisconsin, the state is expected to go forward with its primary on Tuesday. Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Friday urged the state legislature to allow all-mail voting and accept ballots cast in the coming weeks.
Trump criticized Evers while highlighting his support for a judicial candidate in Wisconsin.
“Why didn’t he do this two weeks ago?” Trump said at the briefing. “All of a sudden an election, which is taking place very soon, gets delayed. Now, I just endorsed him today, and it was a very strong endorsement… and all of a sudden the governor comes out, the Democrat governor, by the way, comes out and says, ‘Oh, we’re going to move this election.'”