Donald Trump claimed in an all-caps Truth Social screed Friday that governors across the country are making voting inconvenient by banning most mail-in ballots and limiting voting to one day.
And the ballot must be filled out entirely on paper, he said in his post.
“GET IT done,” he ordered.
Trump seems to believe that the fewer people who vote, the better for the Republican Party. Banning the ballot and limiting voting to one day will certainly lower voter turnout. The plan will be difficult for working people and the elderly, difficult for the elderly and disabled and almost impossible for those who sleep.
A study of 2020 voting patterns by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that mail-in votes by Democrats outnumbered mail-in ballots cast by Republicans. “In total, nearly 60% of Democrats voted by mail in 2020, compared to just 30% for Republicans,” the study said.
Still, losing that 30%, or part of it, could be losing the race. Some major Republicans are now reportedly pushing for more ballots and early voting because of their party’s poor performance in the November midterm elections.
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, called on the party to support mail-in ballots after Herschel Walker’s defeat in the US Senate race in Georgia, where Republicans passed a restrictive voting law last year that made it harder to vote by mail.
And until the law is changed, Republicans will have to vote by mail or in person if they’re just competing with Democratic voters.
“Our voters should vote early. There are many in 2020 who say: Don’t vote by mail, don’t vote early. And we have to stop and realize that if the Democrats get the ballot in a month, we can’t expect to do it in a day,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel warned Fox News after the midterm elections.
Trump himself has voted by mail but his goal is to deny the convenience to others. He is voting by mail in the 2021 municipal election in Palm Beach County, where he lives at Mar-a-Lago.
The only exceptions to the system of restrictions are “distant military” personnel, and those with “proven illnesses.”
Critics had some pushback: