In Florida general elections, about one-third of ballots are cast by mail, a third are cast during the early in-person voting period and a third are cast on Election Day. | Nati Harnik/AP Photo
MIAMI — President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric against mail-in voting is causing a big problem for Florida Republicans, who once dominated the practice here.
So the state GOP came up with a solution: They doctored one of Trump’s tweets on the issue to remove the stigma.
In a mass-solicitation designed to boost flagging interest in registering to vote by mail, the Republican Party of Florida featured a Trump tweet from June 28 that praised absentee ballots but that had his opposition to mail-in voting strategically edited out.
“Absentee Ballots are fine. A person has to go through a process to get and use them,” Trump said in the tweet. The rest of the quote was blurred out: “Mail-In Voting, on the other hand, will lead to the most corrupt Election is USA history. Bad things happen with Mail-Ins. Just look at Special Election in Patterson, N.J. 19% of Ballots a FRAUD.”
There’s no difference between mail-in voting and absentee ballot voting. Trump is claiming a distinction that does not exist, all the while exaggerating the fraud risks, prevalence and effects of voting by mail.
Some Republicans privately fear the president is hurting his reelection chances — and the standing of the state party — by endangering one of the secrets to the GOP’s electoral success in Florida, where voters do not need an excuse to request or cast a ballot by mail.
In a statement, Florida GOP Chair Joe Gruters said the party blurred out part of Trump’s tweet concerning mail-in voting to avoid confusing state voters.
“The mailer was merely highlighting the portion of the tweet that is relevant to Florida,” Gruters said, noting that Trump equates mail-in voting to “an all-mail election to which the RPOF and President Trump remain staunchly opposed to.”
Don’t confuse Florida’s system of voting by mail with other states,” he added. Gruters also said the party “agrees with the president that absentee balloting also known as Vote by Mail is safe and secure.”
On Tuesday evening, Trump again muddled absentee ballots, mail-in voting and all-mail elections together. He criticized California, which is planning an all-mail election in November because of the coronavirus pandemic, but then he twice referenced a fraud case in New Jersey, which is not an all-mail election state.
“I’m very worried about mail-in voting because I think it’s subject to tremendous fraud and being rigged,” Trump has said, discounting studies that show otherwise.
