WASHINGTON, Sept 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump on
Thursday renewed his call for supporters to try to vote twice on
November 3, claiming that only this way can they be sure their ballot
is counted.
Trump said Americans should first try to vote by mail, if that
option is offered in their state, then also go to the polling station
on election day to check that their ballot has been counted — and, if
not, vote again.
“YOU ARE NOW ASSURED THAT YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE HAS BEEN COUNTED,” he
said in a Twitter thread.
It was the latest assault by Trump on the credibility of mail-in
voting, which is being rapidly expanded across the country in response
to fears of Covid-19 contagion for voters going in person to polling
stations.
Despite Trump’s relentless challenges, the mail-in practice is
already widespread and largely trouble free in the United States.
He himself uses the absentee mail-in option to vote in Florida while
living in the White House.
While Trump says that increased mail-in voting will generally allow
ballot tampering and rigging of the result, elections experts say
there is no evidence of significant danger.
Polls show Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to vote by mail.
Trump first aired the idea of casting a precautionary second vote on
Wednesday during a trip to North Carolina.
“If you get the unsolicited ballots, send it in, and then go — make
sure it counted. And if it doesn’t tabulate, you vote,” he said. “So,
send it in early, and then go and vote.”
The recommendation prompted the election board in the state, which
Democrat Joe Biden hopes to snatch from Trump, to issue a statement
pointing out: “It is illegal to vote twice in an election.”
“Soliciting someone to do so also is a violation of North Carolina
law,” the board’s director, Karen Brinson Bell, added.
Polls currently show Biden on course to defeat Trump.
However, experts warn that the country faces a confusing and
potentially tense aftermath of the voting on November 3, due to the
unusual circumstances.
Given the larger than ordinary number of mailed-in ballots, few
expect there will be a clear-cut result that evening.
Under one scenario, Trump could be shown to have won on the basis of
ballots cast during the day, but mail-in ballots, once counted days
later, would then put Biden over the top.
Trump has repeatedly refused to declare he will accept the results.