Republicans must fight against Mail-in voting option for 2020 Election
U.S President Donald Trump has warned Republicans to fight Democratic efforts to expand mail-in voting. He said it would negatively affect the GOP’s election chances in 2020 election. The latest call to action came after Republicans successfully opposed attempts to postpone the Wisconsin primary amidst widespread Covid-19 fears. On Wednesday, Trump tweeted and said, “Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans”. His comments follow successful attempts from Republicans to stop the Wisconsin primary election being delayed or provide many voters with mail-in options.
The US Supreme Court voted along party lines to overturn the Democratic governor’s last-minute bid to delay the primary amidst the Covid-19 epidemic. Moreover, Democrats are focused at the effects that the on-going coronavirus outburst will have on upcoming state primaries and November’s general election. Republicans have also objected to or blocked expansions of mail-in voting in states including Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Trump was speaking at the daily White House press briefing on the COVID-19 epidemic. He said he wasn’t in favor of using vote-by-mail options if the outburst stops people from going to the polls in 2020 election and said, “A lot of people cheat with mail-in voting”.
Trump added, “I think people should vote with ID, voter ID. I think voter ID is very important, and the reason they don’t want voter ID is because they intend to cheat. It shouldn’t be mail-in voting. It should be you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself. You don’t send it in the mail where people can pick up, all sorts of bad things can happen by the time it gets in and is tabulated”. It is noteworthy that at least a dozen states delayed their primaries because of the health situation in the United States. The US Supreme Court also blocked a court order that extended the period to return absentee ballots by 6-days. The rejection to extend absentee voting in Wisconsin would lead to massive disenfranchisement.