It’s the second time this year the president has voted by mail, even as he’s attacked the method as “inherently corrupt” and sought to restrict it nationally.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, according to the White House, even as he rails on mail-voting as an “inherently corrupt” method of voting that is akin to cheating.
Trump returned his mail ballot on Aug. 13 for the Aug. 18 Florida Republican primary, which features the GOP gubernatorial primary that includes Trump-backed candidate Rep. Byron Donalds.
Politico first reported on Trump casting a mail ballot in Florida, the president’s home state, by citing voting records from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. USA TODAY was unable to access the president’s Palm Beach County records online. A search tool said Trump’s voting records were “protected from public disclosure.”
Trump has voted by mail in past Florida elections, including in March for a Florida state House special election. This time it comes as Trump is urging the Senate to approve the SAVE America Act, which would prohibit universal mail-voting and limit mail ballots to voters either in the military, disabled, traveling or with illnesses preventing them from voting in person.
Olivia Wales, a White House spokeswoman, confirmed Trump voted by mail in the Florida GOP primary, calling it “a non-story.”
“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,” Wales said. “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, DC.”
Trump last week asked the Supreme Court to intervene to fully implement an executive order that seeks to restrict the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. Trump’s order, which was blocked by a federal judge in Massachusetts, called on states to provide lists of eligible voters who may receive mail ballots. If states did not comply, USPS would refused to deliver the ballots, under the order.
“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all,” Trump said in remarks in Memphis, Tennessee, in March.
Trump leveled similar baseless and false claims about mail voting ahead of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and the 2024 election he won over Kamala Harris.
Explaining why he voted for mail in the Florida special election earlier this year, Trump in March told reporters, “Because I’m president of the United States, and because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida.”
Contributing: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison on @joeygarrison.