Six months into President Donald Trump's effort to prevent voting by mail in the November election, no state has halted its plans to do so.
According to Politico, Trump's campaign has spent $20 million to try to stop the practice, which the president says will lead to voter fraud. But many states are moving ahead with plans to send ballots to registered voters for the November election, which will take place under the cloud of the coronavirus pandemic.
In New Jersey, ballots have already been mailed, Politico noted. Vermont and Nevada will ship theirs out to voters in days.
"Once the ballots have gone out, it’s hard to see how the courts could grant meaningful relief on the claims," election law expert Richard Pildes told Politico. "There would be no way to put the genie back in the bottle, no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube."
Democrats have pushed for voting by mail for months because of the pandemic, arguing that it will be safer for voters and that it will allow people who don't feel comfortable gathering in crowds to vote from their home. Trump and some Republicans, however, say that voting this way could lead to Democrat Joe Biden fraudulently winning — and that an election redo could be necessary.
Trump has even criticized the U.S. Postal Service, saying it wouldn't be able to handle the heavy volume of ballots in a timely and secure manner.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, however, told Politico that voting by mail isn't the problem.
"If there is a threat to our election this year, it's not mail-in ballots," Ridge said. "It's the president sowing doubt in the results of the election."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.