President Donald Trump defended his use of a mail-in ballot in a recent Florida special election, citing his role as president and his absence from the state as justification. The explanation came just days after he publicly characterized mail-in voting as “mail-in cheating.”
Donald Trump gives reason behind mail-in ballot
Speaking to reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 26, Donald Trump addressed why he voted by mail in Florida’s House District 87 special election. “You know what, because I’m president of the United States, and because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida,” Trump said.
He added that his absence from Florida during the voting period necessitated the mail ballot. “I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn’t be there, because I had a lot of different things,” he said.
The president has long criticized mail-in voting, frequently claiming without evidence that it leads to widespread fraud. As recently as March 23, he reiterated that stance during a roundtable in Memphis, Tennessee. “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating,” Donald Trump stated.
Trump has been pushing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, an election overhaul bill. In a Truth Social post on March 22, he urged Republicans to demand provisions including voter ID requirements and restrictions on mail-in voting. However, in his March 26 remarks, Trump noted that his own use of a mail ballot fell under what he called an “exceptions.”
“You know, we have exceptions for mail-in ballots? You do know that, right?” Trump said. He listed circumstances such as being away, serving in the military, traveling for business, disability, or illness as qualifying exceptions. “So I was away mostly in Washington, D.C., so I used a mail-in ballot,” he explained.
In-person early voting for the special election was available from March 14 through March 22 at two Palm Beach County locations, including weekends, a staffer at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office confirmed to NBC News. Trump spent the second weekend of early voting, March 20 through March 22, at his Mar-a-Lago resort. On Election Day, the president remained in Washington for a swearing-in ceremony and policy meetings.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.com.
