President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to vote absentee in the 2020 election.
Trump has painted a false distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting, which are virtually the same thing.
The president has repeatedly made unfounded assertions that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud in November.
Voter fraud is extremely rare in the US.
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After months of unfounded attacks on mail-in voting, President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to vote via an absentee ballot in the 2020 election.
"Absentee ballots are great ... I'm going to be voting absentee," Trump told reporters as he once again condemned mail-in voting, which is practically identical to absentee voting in terms of process and security measures.
Trump has repeatedly drawn a false distinction between absentee and mail-in voting, according to voting experts.
"No-excuse mail voting or absentee voting whatever you call it — is essentially the same thing," David Becker, the founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, told CNN in mid-July.
"You request a ballot, you get a ballot, you vote, you send it in, and there are protections in place," Becker added. "It doesn't matter whether you call it mail voting or absentee voting. It's the same thing."
Though he continues to make misleading comments on mail-in voting, Trump will be voting by mail in November. The president also voted by mail in the Florida GOP primary in March.
Because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats have advocated for expanded access to mail-in voting to reduce the chances of the virus spreading at crowded polling places.
Trump, who's trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in the polls, has responded with repetitive, baseless assertions that voting by mail will lead to widespread fraud.
"Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history — unless this stupidity is ended," Trump tweeted on June 22.
On Thursday, the president went as far to suggest that the election should be delayed (which he has no legal authority to do), again citing unsubstantiated concerns over mail-in voting and mirroring the tactics of anti-democratic authoritarian regimes in the process.
The reality is that voter fraud is extremely rare in the US, and there's no substantial evidence to support the notion that increased access to mail-in voting would jeopardize the integrity of the election.
In 2016 and 2018, there were just 372 cases of potential fraud out of approximately 14.6 million ballots cast by mail (0.0025%), according to a recent analysis from The Washington Post.
Despite these facts, Trump continues to maintain that mail-in voting will lead to "disaster" in November.
FinanceGuy77 on July 31st, 2020 at 21:10 UTC »
Absentee IS a type of mail in ballots but because his brain can’t comprehend such a concept he thinks it’s completely different and is trying to further suppress votes.
Twoweekswithpay on July 31st, 2020 at 20:58 UTC »
Reminder for those who get them mixed up...there essentially is no difference: 🤦🏽♂️
Of course, ‘Rules for Thee, but Not for Me.’ 🤨
The hypocrisy that comes with his shameless lying & intentional misleading of the public is so maddening! It took 3+ years and an unprecedented health crisis & social unrest to do it, but I’m finally glad that we’ve shaken some people’s blind faith in him to where they finally see him for the conman that he is!
MixCarson on July 31st, 2020 at 20:53 UTC »
Well hopefully this will help with all the people who try and say the mail in ballots are fake.