Trump Suggest Voting Twice to Citizens of North Carolina

By Bailee Padgett
National News Staff Writer

President Trump told people at the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C. on Wednesday that they should test the safety of their elections systems by voting twice. This kind of activity goes against the kind of voter fraud that the president has been speaking out against.

This 2020 presidential election is expected to have larger voting by mail rate due to the concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Trump was asked about his confidence in each state’s system for voting this year. His reply was to encourage citizens to send an absentee ballot in and then go vote in person on Election Day.

“Let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote,” was the president’s reply. “If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote.”
President Trump’s proposal for citizens to vote twice is one that has been brought up in discussion with his aides recently within conversations concerning a low turnout among his supporters caused by paranoia about the safety of mail-in voting. As the rise in citizens planning to mail their ballots has gone on, President Trump has made false claims on multiple occasions about the widespread fraud in mail voting. Trump has promoted the prospect of a broader diverge between universal mail voting and increased limited absentee voting where the individual is either away from home or has a disability. His advisers have urged him not to speak out so that he does not scare his supporters, including older voters, with his extensive criticism. Although he has emphasized the difference, Trump has carried on with his theories about the substantial amount of voting fraud that contains no supporting evidence.

William P. Barr, the attorney general, refused to comment when prompted about Mr. Trump’s suggestion on Wednesday. “We haven’t had the kind of widespread use of mail-in ballots that are being proposed,” said Mr. Barr. He also added that his knowledge with the aspects of North Carolina’s voting laws was not superior. A variety of measures have been taken within the States to prevent double voting. A spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Patrick Gannon, has said that the system placed in North Carolina will secure an individual from voting twice since only the first vote is counted.
“Intentional willful double voting is a felony,” said Mr. Gannon. He urged voters to request absentee ballots so that they can track them on the elections board’s website once they are sent in.

Contact Bailee at bailee.padgett@student.shu.edu