On Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted that President Trump was not suggesting people “do anything unlawful” when he encouraged voters to test the system by voting both by mail and in person.
In an interview on Fox News, McEnany said that Trump was telling voters to “verify” that their mailed ballot is counted in the upcoming November election when he made the remarks during a trip to North Carolina on Wednesday.
“The president is not suggesting anyone do anything unlawful. What he said very clearly there is make sure your vote is tabulated and if it is not, then vote,” McEnany said on Fox.
“Basically, when you get an absentee ballot and you send it in, there are poll books and it is recorded that you have in fact voted. And if you show up at a polling site, they look at the poll book and say your vote has been counted. He wants verification,” McEnany continued.
She went on to accuse Democrats of seeking a “whole new fraudulent system of mail-in voting” by trying to expand access to mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump triggered scrutiny when he suggested, during a local TV interview in Wilmington, N.C., on Wednesday afternoon, that people should vote twice. Voting more than once in an election is illegal.
“They will vote and then they are going to have to check their vote by going to the poll and voting that way because if it tabulates then they won’t be able to do that. So let them send it in, and let them go vote. And if the system is as good as they say it is, then they obviously won’t be able to vote,” Trump told WECT News. “If it isn’t tabulated, they will be able to vote. So that’s the way it is, and that’s what they should do.”
Trump then made similar remarks to a crowd of supporters at the Wilmington airport, before delivering remarks at Battleship North Carolina marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.
“Let them send it in, and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote,” he said.
“If it’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote. So that’s the way it is. And that’s what they should do,” he added.
North Carolina officials will begin sending absentee ballots to voters who have requested them on Friday. North Carolina represents a key swing state in the 2020 election.
Trump has repeatedly sought to cast doubt on the 2020 presidential election results and warned that expanding mail-in voting could lead to widespread fraud in the November contest. Experts say, however, that there is no evidence of meaningful fraud in mail-in voting.
Trump in July suggested the election should be delayed over his concerns about mail-in voting and has also claimed falsely in recent speeches that the only way Democrats will win in 2020 is if the election is “rigged.”