Michelle Obama Urges Voters to Vote Early, by Mail

In a Tuesday message from When We All Vote, former first lady Michelle Obama encouraged Americans to vote early and by mail in the name of public safety.

“Fair and safe voting is gonna be more important than ever this year, and that’s why When We All Vote is fighting to expand vote-by-mail, in-person early voting and online voter registration,” Michelle Obama said in a video posted to YouTube Tuesday.

The former FLOTUS told voters to “just spread the word” in order to “make sure your friends, families and communities are registered, know their rights and are fully prepared to vote by mail this year or vote early in person.”

But Obama is far from the first to push for an embrace of absentee voting. During a Monday appearance on CNN, Federal Elections Commission Commissioner, Democrat Ellen Weintraub, called mail-in voting a “preferred alternative” to going to the polls. She also predicted that the outcome of the election may be delayed.

“Let me just tell everybody, we’re all going to need to take a deep breath and be patient this year because there’s a substantial chance we are not going to know on election night what the results are,” she said.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also voiced her support for votes by mail “from a health reason” during an interview with ABC on August 2:

I don’t think it benefits one party or another. But I think it’s essential from a health reason because we want to keep people at home to vote without having them all collect on election day, but if they do want to vote in person, that we have sufficient spacing and all the rest, so it’s no risk to their health. People shouldn’t have to choose between their health and their vote. that’s very important.

Obama concluded her video by exhorting viewers to help “get more folks across the country trained with the tools, the resources and the information they’ll need to vote”  because this election couldn’t be more important.”

Despite once calling it “the biggest risk we have,” even President Donald Trump seems to have softened his stance against the practice. Trump assured Floridians that it was “safe and secure” in a tweet on August 4. “Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change),” Trump said, “so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!”