Video of President Donald Trump failing to vote in-person before announcing he would fill out an absentee ballot in 2004 has emerged this week in the middle of a new round of unproven attacks on mail in voting from the President.
The “Access Hollywood” segment, captured as Trump was trying to vote in the 2004 election, shows Trump alongside TV host Billy Bush visiting multiple New York City polling locations. Trump, however, is stopped from voting at each location because he is included in any of the voter rolls at each stop.
Trump can be spotted becoming more angry before announcing, “I’m going to fill out the absentee ballot.”
The segment ends with Trump filling out what Bush describes as a provisional ballot in his car.
“I just voted,” Trump touted. “At least you can say the Trumpster doesn’t give up.”
The 16-year-old video has escalated on social media and gathered new attention in the wake of the President’s continued attacks on mail-in voting.
Those attacks, which usually take a partisan tinge as Trump has said he believes his party would be broken by mail-in voting, circulated on Thursday to the point that Trump suggested postponing the election something he is not allowed to do.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”.
During a news conference later in the day, the president was asked to explain his motive. At first, he said he was trying to avoid a drawn-out counting process that might take days or weeks if large numbers of voters cast ballots by mail. But he later on realised his accusations could lead to doubts about whatever outcome resurfaces in November.
“What people are now looking at is … are all these stories right about the fact that these elections will be fraudulent, they’ll be fixed, rigged,” he said.
“Everyone is looking at it,” Trump added. “A lot of people are saying that probably will happen.”
In reality, there is no proof that mail-in voting result to fraud. While rare instances of voter fraud from mail-in ballots do occur, it is nowhere near a widespread problem in the US election system. The most recent example of fraud from mail-in ballots occurred in the 2018 midterm elections where a GOP activist in North Carolina was accused of many felonies in involvement to questionable absentee ballot activity in a congressional race on behalf of the Republican candidate.
Mail ballot fraud is exceedingly rare in part because states have systems and processes in place to avoid forgery, theft and voter fraud. These systems would apply to both absentee ballots and mail-in for in-state voters.
Additionally, the President’s distinction between mail-in voting and absentee voting has baffled experts who say those voting systems are essentially the same thing.
“No-excuse mail voting or absentee voting — whatever you call it — is essentially the same thing,” David Becker, founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research,recently told CNN. “You request a ballot, you get a ballot, you vote, you send it in, and there are protections in place. It doesn’t matter whether you call it mail voting or absentee voting. It’s the same thing.”
