GOP Pushing PA Voters to ‘Protect Yourself from Large Crowds’ With Mail-In Ballots…Which Trump Just (Falsely) Blasted as Ripe for Fraud
President Donald Trump’s own party exposed itself to a double dose of hypocrisy after it was revealed that the Republican National Committee has been urging Pennsylvania voters to “protect yourself from large crowds” by requesting mail-in ballots, which Trump has been (falsely) blasting as ripe for fraud.
According to reporting by the Pittsburgh City Paper, the RNC has been sending mailers out to voters in the state with “instructions for mail-in ballot application” that also include attached registration cards pre-addresed to county officials. These documents, branded as an “official Republican Party notice,” also note that “all Pennsylvania voters are eligible to vote by mail — no matter the reason.”
In addition, the RNC touts one of the benefits of mail-in voting as being able to “protect yourself from large crowds on Election Day.”
Here’s the RNC sending mailers to voters in Pennsylvania urging them to request a mail-in ballot, in part “to protect yourself from large crowds on Election Day” pic.twitter.com/Fc3Byz4yZj
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) April 10, 2020
This claimed advantage of avoiding large crowds stands in stark contrast to the Republican Party’s position in the heated fight over the Wisconsin primary election held this past Tuesday. That state’s Republican Party staunchly refused to postpone the election and instead insisted that voting in person amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak was “incredibly safe,” leading some to attack the subsequent Election Day debacle as an “absolute disaster.” Most telling was the moment where that state’s GOP Assembly Speaker tried to assuage voters fears about the low risk of COVID-19 infection while wearing head-to-toe personal protection equipment.
What’s more, the president has recently singled out mail-in voting for conspiracy-laden criticism, and repeatedly pushed false claims about it in public. Just last week, Trump railed against it during a coronavirus press briefing, saying that anyone encouraging expanded voting by mail “intend to cheat.” In fact, five states in the western United States already vote entirely by mail while dozens of others rely on mail-in ballots for absentee voting — and documented cases of actual mail-in voting fraud are almost nonexistent. And earlier this week, Trump himself admitted that he used a mail-in ballot to vote in 2018e, just moments after calling voting by mail “corrupt.”
The RNC did not offer a comment when contacted by City Paper.
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