President Biden’s reelection campaign on Thursday called on Republicans to drop lawsuits related to mail voting after former President Trump launched an effort to promote alternative types of voting.
“If Donald Trump is serious about finally recognizing that mail voting is a great option for voters to utilize this November, he should demand the RNC and his MAGA allies drop every one of these lawsuits throughout the country,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
Trump’s team and the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched “Swamp the Vote” last week to ease voter concerns about the integrity of nontraditional voting methods, like mail voting, and to encourage people to vote early if possible.
Meanwhile, the RNC filed a federal lawsuit in Nevada last month that tries to prevent the state from counting mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day, the Associated Press reported.
Biden’s campaign challenged Trump to acknowledge that mail voting in effective and safe if he’s “serious about a fair election.” Chavez Rodriguez accused him of “trying to hide the truth” from Americans by encouraging voting by mail while the RNC files lawsuits.
“The right to vote should never be up for debate. Eligible voters should feel confident that their vote will be counted and that the 2024 election will be free and fair,” Chavez Rodriguez said.
The Trump campaign criticized the comments, saying they support mail-in voting.
“Democrats are playing dumb about a very simple concept: We support mail voting, but we also support safeguards to make mail voting secure,” Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement. “It’s really not hard. The left should stop its assault on the foundation of our election system and accept that Americans don’t agree with their extreme attempts to make voting less secure.”
The RNC has argued that counting ballots received after Election Day that do not have a postmark could have a “potential fraudulent impact” on the election in Nevada and that accepting mail ballots up to four days after Election Day “clearly violates federal law.”
During the 2020 election, states encouraged voters to seek out alternative voting methods like voting by mail to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Trump, at the time, urged his supporters to show up to the polls.
Mail-in and early voting options have long been a target of conservative critics who argue that they could be used to facilitate voter fraud, though no evidence has shown widespread improper influence over election outcomes.