Is Trump coming full circle on mail voting?

[jorgevlorgan]

He is now encouraging michiganders to cast absentee ballots.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.detroitnews.com/amp/5858608002

I hope this encourages the gop in the state legislature to consider passing a law where they can process the ballots faster!


I wonder why. Maybe cause his manipulation of the post office has failed miserably?

[lagomorph777]

1. He's chasing his own tail.

It's a large target and moves very slowly, so he's probably going to disappear up his own ass.

[jorgevlorgan]

2. One can hope!

[TomCADem]

25. Yup, every so often his tail peaks out as he chases it.

[DrToast]

3. No, he's been doing that all along

He's been claiming it's fraudulent, but reminding his people to vote by mail as soon as they can.

[lagomorph777]

4. And it all makes perfect sense to MAGATS.

[Ms. Toad]

5. He is making an artificial distinction between requested absentee ballots

and vote by mail (which delivers a ballot to every registered voter).

So - he's has not changed his tune on it. He'd just not very good at being clear.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. I think he's making it less clear

on purpose

[jorgevlorgan]

12. I think he is realizing that if he is behind by enough votes on election day

In mail voting, there is no way he can win. And he is also coming to terms with the fact that the gop or the courts aren't going to save him if he loses. So now suddenly he is trying to get his people to vote.

[lagomorph777]

7. Vote by mail and absentee ballots are the same thing.

Whether ballots are provided automatically or upon request, varies by state, but is irrelevant in the choice of what you call it.

[Ms. Toad]

10. YOu did see the word "artificial" in my post, right? n/t

[stillcool]

23. I wonder if there's a difference in the elections office...

in how the ballots are processed? There's got to be something about absentee ballots that they like.

[jorgevlorgan]

8. For florida he did actually

He has said absentee and vote by mail can be trusted there*

And it seems like he could be implying the same here.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Florida calls no-excuse early not-in-person voting "vote-by-mail"

The ballot still has to be requested.

What he is condemning are systems like Oregon - which send out, unsolicited, ballots to every registered voter.

ETA: Michigan is simlar - the ballot still has to be requested.

[jorgevlorgan]

16. Well that's because he has no chance there

And the systems in michigan and wisconsin will have virtually the same effect as or and co and ca, since anybody can vote by mail who wants to.


Before I think he had a strategy to claim victory on election day when the in person tally comes in assuming the vote by mail tally will take a lot longer, and then fight to keep those ballots from counting. Now folks are pointing out the vote by mail tally in most states will be the first to be reported. I really do think he is starting to switch strategies and make a last ditch effort to get his base to vote by mail realizing the courts and gop won't save him from a devestating landslide loss.


Edit to add: if he could help it, nobody would vote by mail. Hell nobody would vote but him.

[Ms. Toad]

19. He really is making a distinction between requested ballot

and ballots sent to every registered voter.

**His** distinction doesn't have to do with access only being permitted for specific reasons. It has to do with his little pea brain that thinks that anyone could grab ballots out of mailboxes, fill them in, and deliver busloads of them to the board of elections.

He is relying on people not understanding the individual voter verification processs in place to prevent that scenario.

It's not a strategy switch - every place he is suggesting vote by mail is a place that uses that terminology for requested ballots.

[jorgevlorgan]

22. Well it is though. Because before he was saying that no state should allow any type of vote by mail.

Now, at least in Florida, where he can no longer change the law there (or at least influence any change) -he has suddenly said all vote by mail there is safe. Before he just said absentee was okay.

[Ms. Toad]

26. Your last line is the distinction he is making.

He doesn't consider absentee voting voting by mail, even when the mechanism for absentee voting is to use the mail to deliver the ballot.

Again - the distinction he is making is whether the voter requests the ballot - or the ballot is sent to the voter unsolicited. The traditional names for those two schemes is absentee v. vote by mail. (There is less disctition in nomemclature in recent years - but if you can stand to listen to him, you'll find that is what he has been saying from the beginning: requested: good; unsolicited: bad.)

[jorgevlorgan]

29. His last tweet clarified both are fine, and erased any distinction for Florida, at least.

Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!

Link to tweet

?lang=en

[Ms. Toad]

30. No. The Florida setup is the one he has said all along is fine.

It is a system in which you have to request a ballot.

[jorgevlorgan]

33. Right... yeah of course I really do think he is playing games only for when it suits him.

[jorgevlorgan]

31. Oh wait. I see what you are saying.

But I really do think that if he could help it, he would make everybody vote in person on election day. Or hell, just not vote at all.

[Ms. Toad]

32. Using the requested vote-by-mail option is a Republican strategy in some states

Florida being one of them.

He'd get a lot of pushback from the GOP if he tried to take that away from them.

[jorgevlorgan]

34. And thank goodness for that!

[lagomorph777]

15. "vote by mail (which delivers a ballot to every registered voter)"

VA has vote by mail. Here we must request the ballot. So vote by mail does NOT mean every registered voter automatically gets a ballot.

[Ms. Toad]

17. The scheme he is condemning is the one I've described

ballots are sent, without a request, to every registered voter.

As long as you have to request the ballot (Michigan, Florida - for example) he's fine with it. Whatever you call it.

The traditional names are vote by mail = every registered voter gets a ballot; absentee or early voting = access to ballots is by request. That is the distinction he is making. The language has been changing sincemost states went to a process that allows you to vote early (whether by mail or in person) without an excuse.

[Statistical]

20. Calling Dump's mouth garbage the "traditional names" is dubious

We have vote by mail in virginia. It is available to everyone. It requires you request a ballot. Virginia calls it vote by mail.

There is nothing "traditional name" about the dubious distinction Trump is trying to make.

[Ms. Toad]

24. I've been working in/with the election industry

in a variety of capacities long enough to watch the change happen. It has nothng to do with Trump's mouth.

It has to do with the transition from limited access advance voting to no-reason-needed voting in advance. It is traditionally called absentee voting for a reason - you could only vote absentee for a limited number of reasons (the primary reason being you were going to be absent from the jurisdiction on election day).

Now that being absent from the district on election day is generally not required, calling the ballots requested "absentee ballots" doesn't fit as well. That started a transition to calling it something else that fit better (early voting and vote by mail).

[SMC22307]

9. No. Nothing he says can be trusted.

If he's encouraging it, there's a reason that will benefit him and hose Biden/Democrats.

[Doodley]

11. He wants his supporters to vote for him by mail if needed, but it's a problem when Democrats vote

by mail.

[GoCubsGo]

13. No. He's kicking dirt in our faces.

This is nothing but a furtherance of his chaos-causing behavior. He is sowing more confusion.

[Kaleva]

18. I've been getting flyers from the RNC & Trump campaign for awhile now asking me to vote by mail

[jorgevlorgan]

28. That's kinda hilarious

Considering how much he's done to turn the GOP off of VBM

[Thekaspervote]

21. watch how fast he starts insisting mail ins be counted on election night when he's WAY behind

[Blue Owl]

27. "He loves me... He loves me not..."

(Little Donny plucking petals while thinking of Vladdy Putin)