President Trump urged Florida residents Tuesday to vote by mail, after months of criticizing mail-in voting as susceptible to fraud.
“Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “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! #MAGA”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president “has always said that absentee voting for a reason is different than mass mail-out voting.”
The president’s tweet didn’t distinguish between absentee and mass mail-in voting.
Florida Republican officials have expressed concern that the president’s campaign against mail-in voting is suppressing the number of GOP voters who are taking part in it, while Democrats are voting by mail in large numbers.
Ms. McEnany cited a recent court decision in Florida on mail-in voting. Trump campaign officials did not immediately provide information on a court case.
The president is trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden in Florida by six percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of polls.
Politico reported this week showed that Republicans are concerned about mail balloting, with private polling showing that 15% of Trump voters in Florida said that getting a ballot in the mail would make them less likely to vote in the fall.
In June, Florida Democrats opened up a more than 300,000-person advantage over Republicans in enrollment for mail-in voting.
