President Donald Trump said on Thursday that states sending unsolicited mail-in ballots should end the process to prevent a delay in election results.
“The big Unsolicited Ballot States should give it up NOW, before it is too late, and ask people to go to the Polling Booths and, like always before, VOTE,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Otherwise, MAYHEM!!!”
The president clarified, however, that solicited absentee ballots are fine.
California, D.C., Nevada, New Jersey, and Vermont have adopted a system of unsolicited ballots in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington already had existing systems to send registered voters their ballots, without voters needing to request them.
All of the states sending unsolicited ballots in 2020 went for failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. Only Colorado and Nevada remain battleground states, as Trump lost Nevada by two points and Colorado by five points in 2016.
But Trump warned that the November 3 election results might never be accurate, thanks to an increase of unsolicited ballots.
“Because of the new and unprecedented massive amount of unsolicited ballots which will be sent to ‘voters,’ or wherever, this year, the Nov 3rd Election result may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED, which is what some want,” Trump wrote. “Another election disaster yesterday. Stop Ballot Madness!”