Saying “absentee ballots are great,” Donald Trump on Tuesday encouraged people who called into a conference call dubbed a “phone rally” to support mail-in voting, according to CNN.
“Absentee voting is a secure process. It’s initiated by the voter — you request it — and every voter is verified,” Trump claimed. “Every vote is verified. It’s the exact opposite of Democrats’ voter fraud scheme. They want to mail ballots to every eligible voter all over the state.”
While Trump has decried mail-in voting as rife with fraud and cheating, he’s promoted “absentee ballots” to his followers even as his legal team in Pennsylvania state that there’s no substantial difference between mail-in and absentee ballots.
According to CNN, republicans trail Democrats who have requested mail-in ballots in North Carolina. As of August 12, a total of 88,212 registered Democrats had requested absentee ballots, compared with just 33,546 registered Republican voters.
While Trump stays at the White House or his golf courses, his son Eric–who is apparently expendable during the pandemic–was on a bus tour for the campaign that attracted dozens of people in Kissimmee, Florida. “In Florida you have an honest system, so vote absentee. Your vote will be counted; it’s real.”