Trump threatens to withhold federal funding for these states considering vote-by-mail
President Donald Trump threatened over Twitter Wednesday morning to pull federal funding from Michigan and Nevada for mail-in-voting efforts.
Trump claimed incorrectly, “Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State.”
Michigan’s Secretary of State replied to the president on Twitter: “Hi! I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia.”
The president threatened to “hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”
Nevada and Michigan are considered swing states in the 2020 General Election. Trump narrowly defeated then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by 47.50% to 47.27% in Michigan in 2016. Clinton won Nevada by 2% in the 2016 election.
Trump tweeted a similar threat to Nevada, “State of Nevada ‘thinks’ that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections.”
Nevada is conducting its June 9 primary with all mail-in ballots because of the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Nevada Secretary of State.
“All active registered voters in Nevada will be mailed an absentee ballot for the primary election. No action or steps, such as submitting an absentee ballot request application, will be required by individual voters in order to receive a ballot in the mail,” according to the Secretary of State.
“Voters will be able to mark their ballot at home and then return it by mail using a postage-prepaid envelope or by dropping it off in person at a designated county location. This announcement applies only to the June 9, 2020 primary election,” according to the Nevada elections website.
States across the country have delayed spring elections and are trying to figure out how people can vote safely this fall if the coronavirus pandemic is still in communities around the United States.
Public health officials have been stressing social distancing, limiting contact with others and keeping public areas clean, which could pose problems for polling sites during what will likely be a busy presidential election day.
In a tweet this week, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said, “No voter should have to choose between their health & their vote. And every Michigan citizen has a right under our state constitution to vote by mail.”
“With funding from the federal CARES act, I am ensuring every registered voter has the tools to conveniently exercise that right,” she said.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 10:53 AM.
