Trump again tells NC voters to mail ballots, then try to vote in person. It’s illegal.
President Donald Trump again Friday night told North Carolina voters to attempt to vote twice, warning that mail-in ballots could be lost, thrown out or destroyed.
It is illegal in North Carolina to vote twice.
More than 634,000 requests for absentee by-mail ballots have been made by North Carolina voters, according to the state’s board of elections. County election officials began mailing those ballots Friday.
“They’ll lose your vote. They’ll lose your ballot. Who knows what’s going to happen with these people?” Trump said.
Trump referenced the mailing of those absentee ballots at the top of his remarks Friday night, calling it a “big day.” He spoke for 30 minutes on a tele-rally with North Carolina voters.
“I’ve been very suspicious of this whole situation. I don’t like it and a lot of people don’t like it,” Trump said.
He then explained to voters what they should do — contradicting advice given by the state’s board of elections just one day earlier.
“Sign your ballot and mail it in. Just mail it in. On Election Day or early voting, go to your polling place, even though you’ve mailed it in, go to your polling place to see whether or not your mail-in vote has been tabulated or counted,” Trump said.
“If it has, you will not be able to vote because it’s going to be counted. You’ll not be able to vote and the mail-in system worked properly as it should. But there’s a big chance that it won’t work properly.
“So if it hasn’t been counted, if it doesn’t show up, go and vote and then if your mail-in ballot arrives after you vote — which it shouldn’t, but possibly it could, perhaps — that ballot will not be used or counted in that your vote has already been cast and tabulated.
“This way you’re guaranteed to have your vote counted. So send it in and then see and then vote and let’s see what happens. You’re now assured your very precious and important vote has been counted. It hasn’t been lost or thrown out or in any way destroyed. So important to do that because this is going to be the biggest election in the history of our country.”
Trump first made claims about trying to vote twice Wednesday during a stop in Wilmington.
Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a message Thursday that voting twice in an election, attempting to vote twice or soliciting someone to do so is a violation of North Carolina law.
North Carolina has three ways to track your absentee by-mail ballot: checking the state’s website, signing up for BallotTrax, which is set to launch in a few days, or by contacting your county board of elections.
“The State Board office strongly discourages people from showing up at the polls on Election Day to check whether their absentee ballot was counted. That is not necessary, and it would lead to longer lines and the possibility of spreading COVID-19,” Brinson Bell wrote in a message.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who is running against Trump, said earlier Friday that Trump’s comments were another “ridiculous, illegal and inappropriate thing” for the president to say.
“It’s all designed to create so much chaos that no matter what the outcome of the election is, it’s thrown up in the air,” Biden said. “That must be his reason.”
Voters in North Carolina can request absentee by-mail ballots through Oct. 27, though state officials and the United States Postal Service said you should request one before that to ensure you have enough time to return your completed ballot by Election Day on Nov. 3. The state board advises mailing your completed ballot by Oct. 27 at the latest.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
