President Donald Trump returned a mail ballot in Palm Beach County on August 13 for Florida’s Republican primary, according to records reported by Politico. The White House separately confirmed that Trump voted by mail. His personal use of the system came while his administration was fighting in court for greater federal power to restrict how mail ballots are delivered to other voters.
One day before Trump’s ballot was returned, his Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to let the administration enforce provisions of his March executive order affecting mail voting. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani had blocked nationwide enforcement of the Postal Service provisions after concluding that the executive branch lacked authority to regulate elections in that way.
The order would require states to provide lists identifying voters approved to receive mail ballots and direct the Postal Service to refuse delivery of ballots outside those approved lists. Those rules do not exist only on paper. They determine whether voters who depend on mail ballots can receive them and whether state election systems can operate without a new federal barrier inserted between voters and their ballots.
Talwani’s nationwide injunction came as election deadlines were approaching. The court found that the order was creating uncertainty around mail voting, while the administration continued asking the Supreme Court to restore its authority to enforce the restrictions.
Trump, meanwhile, used the very voting method his administration is attempting to restrict. This was not his first time doing so: reporting shows he also voted by mail in an earlier Florida election while continuing his broader attacks on mail voting. The White House argues that Trump supports exceptions for circumstances including travel, illness, disability and military service rather than unrestricted mail voting.
That argument does not erase the people carrying the consequence.
Trump can rely on mail voting for himself while his administration fights for federal power that could make the same process harder for other Americans who depend on it.
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The liar and bullshitter in chief, don piglione tRump.