President Donald Trump on Tuesday encouraged voters in Florida to vote by mail, despite discouraging the process in other states.
“Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida, the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True,” he wrote on Twitter. “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!”
The president was referring to a legal settlement in July between Democrat voting groups and the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) before the case went to trial.
The Florida Secretary of State, Laurel Lee, will educate and encourage county supervisors with vote by mail procedures, including the use of drop boxes for ballots, prepaid postage, and providing vote-by-mail request forms in Spanish.
Florida voters still have to request a ballot to vote by mail.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that Trump was fine with absentee voting, but not mass mailings of ballots to voters.
“The president has always said that absentee voting for a reason is different than mass mailout voting like what Nevada is seeking to do which leads to mass fraud,” McEnany said, referring to recent legislation passed in an emergency session of Nevada’s state legislature.
Nevada will send ballots to all of the state’s active voters for the 2020 election and even allow other people to fill out ballots for the elderly and disabled.
On Monday, Trump said in Florida that he approved of absentee ballots because it was part of a more secure process.
“Again, absentee is great. It works. Like in Florida, they’ll do absentee. It really works,” Trump said. “But universal mail-in ballots is going to be a great embarrassment to our country.”