President Donald Trump escalated his unsubstantiated attacks on mail voting Monday, claiming with no evidence that expanding the practice would lead to foreign governments printing counterfeit ballots and cause the "election disaster of our times."
"Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history _ unless this stupidity is ended," Trump tweeted. "We voted during World War One & World War Two with no problem, but now they are using Covid in order to cheat by using Mail-Ins!"
Election officials pushed back on the president's assertions. "We are not aware of any evidence supporting the claims made by President Trump," the National Association of Secretaries of State said in a statement. "As always, we are open to learning more about the Administration's concerns."
The president's latest string of criticism comes as states are weighing the pros and cons of expanding voting by mail _ which five states use exclusively and all states allow to some extent _ to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at polling places during the primary season and the November general election.
Health officials recommend expanding absentee voting to allow people to stay home from the polls, but political and financial concerns have complicated the shift.
Some Republicans have argued that voting by mail will lead to increased fraud, though there is no evidence that mail voting has led to systematic abuse.
"When state governments start adopting these practices like mail-in ballots, that open the floodgates of potential fraud, then people's confidence in the outcome of the election is going to be undermined," Attorney General William Barr said Sunday on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."
Barr, a Virginia resident, voted by mail in 2012 and 2019, according to The Washington Post. Trump has also voted absentee, including in Florida's March presidential primary.
The president openly stated in April that he was considering GOP chances in his opposition to mail balloting. Republicans "should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting," he tweeted, because it "doesn't work out well for Republicans."
The Republican National Committee has committed to spending $20 million to block Democratic-led efforts to expand mail voting. The president has suggested that his reelection bid depends on Republicans winning court cases to block efforts to expand or simplify mail voting.
"My biggest risk is that we don't win lawsuits," the president told Politico on Thursday. "We have many lawsuits going all over. And if we don't win those lawsuits ... I think it puts the election at risk."
Though the political debate over mail-in ballots is unresolved, absentee voting has been on an upward trajectory for the last two decades as election officials in both parties embraced the practice. In 2016, 21% of general election ballots were cast by mail, compared with just 7.8% in 1996, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Five states _ Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah _ conduct all elections primarily by mail. The coronavirus outbreak could push more states to join them.
