United States: controversy after Trump's call on his voters to vote twice
Donald Trump in Kenosha, Wisconsin on September 1, 2020. Leah Millis / Reuters
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
While voters in North Carolina will receive their mail-in ballots on Friday, September 4, Donald Trump, president and candidate for re-election in November, has advised his supporters to vote twice, which is obviously against the law .
A new way for the Head of State to undermine the postal voting system, which he denigrates.
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With our correspondent in Washington,
Anne Corpet
As the November 3 presidential election draws near, North Carolina's estimated 7 million voters will be the first to receive their mail-in ballots.
They will be distributed on Friday September 4th.
Donald Trump
went to this state on Wednesday, September 2.
And to his supporters, the current president and candidate for re-election
against Joe Biden
issued a very strange instruction.
“
If you have a postal ballot, you send it.
But in any case, check ... And go vote!
Send your ballot in advance, and then come around and vote.
And if your vote has not yet been recorded, you vote, and your vote will count,
”he said.
Based on the massive number of Unsolicited & Solicited Ballots that will be sent to potential Voters for the upcoming 2020 Election, & in order for you to MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE COUNTS & IS COUNTED, SIGN & MAIL IN your Ballot as EARLY as possible.
On Election Day, or Early Voting, ..
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2020
Trump tries to sabotage postal voting
Problem: the law prohibits voting twice.
It is forbidden to put a ballot in the ballot box if you have already voted by mail.
The social network Twitter has also moderated Donald Trump's messages which took up this instruction.
Asked the same evening on
CNN
, William Barr, the Minister of Justice, pretended to ignore it: “
I do not know what the law says in these states.
We can perhaps change the voting method at a specific time.
I don't know what the law says.
"
Donald Trump's goal has not changed: the Republican candidate still wants to sabotage postal voting, in which he does not trust and whom he believes vulnerable.
Democrats are much more inclined to use this voting system than Republicans, according to a recent survey.
In the midst of a pandemic, postal voting has its advantages
North Carolina is one of 33 states in the United States that offer the option of voting either by mail or in person.
A practice not so common in the United States since only Oregon, Colorado and Washington State have been used to this system since the early 2000s. The 2000 presidential election, precisely,
between George W. Bush and Al Gore
was hotly debated after the Florida vote fiasco.
Oregon, Colorado and Washington State only practice postal voting.
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, nine states, as well as the District of Columbia, have decided to change the standards for this election and therefore to favor postal voting.
Other states allow such a practice, but you must request it and meet specific conditions, such as Texas, Tennessee or Alabama.
According to experts, and contrary to what Donald Trump and many Republicans think, postal voting is not necessarily against the conservatives.
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United States
USA Elections 2020
Donald trump
Joe biden
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