Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), one of the Republican Party’s most vocal critics of President Donald Trump, responded to the president’s criticism of recent vote-by-mail initiatives by Democrat governors, claiming the voting system works seamlessly in his home state.
“In my state, I’ll bet 90% of us vote by mail. It works very very well and it’s a very Republican state,” Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked about the president’s comments, according to ABC News.
Earlier Wednesday, President Trump threatened to withhold funding from Michigan over its mailing absentee ballot applications for its upcoming election in August and November.
“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. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” the president tweeted.
On Tuesday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that all Michigan voters will receive an application to vote by mail, citing possible health concerns stemming from the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
“By mailing applications, we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,” said Benson. “Voting by mail is easy, convenient, safe, and secure, and every voter in Michigan has the right to do it.”
“We appreciate that some clerks are proactively protecting public health by mailing applications to all their registered voters, and we are fulfilling our responsibility to provide all voters equal access,” the Michigan official added. “We know from the elections that took place this month that during the pandemic Michiganders want to safely vote.”
The Michigan Department of State’s Bureau of Elections will mail voters a letter with instructions of how to vote by mail and ask applicants to send back a signed application.
In addition to Michigan, President Trump threatened to pull funding from Nevada over its mail-in voting plan, calling it “illegal.”
“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,” the president wrote.
As Breitbart News reported:
Recent data has not shown a compelling public health justification for vote-by-mail. Wisconsin is one of the only U.S. states that held its primary election with in-person voting after the nation’s coronavirus lockdowns began. Only a few dozen people at maximum were confirmed to have contracted the virus after participating either as voters or poll workers, and none of those cases were fatal. Out of the 413,000 participants, that equals an infection rate below two-hundredths of one percent. Just days later, South Korea held national elections which did not result in any new coronavirus cases.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) responded to President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding, calling his warning both “inappropriate and outrageous.”
“Nevada is widely recognized as being a national leader in election administration, and we will continue to support the safest, most accessible election possible under these unprecedented circumstances,” Sisolak wrote on social media.
“For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous,” he added.
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