Pushing back against Trump, Romney says 90% of ‘very Republican’ Utah votes by mail

Senator Mitt Romney broke with President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders who denounced voting by mail, saying it works “very, very well,” media outlets reported.

“In my state, I’ll bet 90% of us vote by mail. It works very, very well, and it’s a very Republican state,” Romney told reporters on Wednesday, according to ABC News.

Trump has rallied against voting by mail.

“They grab thousands of mail-in ballots and they dump it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, according to Politico. “I’ll tell you what — and I don’t have to tell you, you can look at the statistics — there’s a lot of dishonesty going along with mail-in voting.”

Trump doubled down on his comments on Wednesday, saying that it could lead to fraud.

“Mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing. They’re subject to massive fraud,” Trump said, according to NPR.

When asked if he’d take away federal funding from states that offer mail voting, he said: “We’ll let you know if it’s necessary. ... I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”

Trump previously threatened to withhold funding for Michigan and Nevada, McClatchy News reported.

“Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election,” Trump tweeted. “This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State.” He later deleted the tweet before tweeting again that Michigan was sending absentee ballot applications.

Michigan’s Secretary of State responded to Trump: “Hi! I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia.”

Trump also threatened to withhold funding from Nevada, tweeting: “State of Nevada ‘thinks’ that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections.”

Nevada is allowing mail-in ballots for its June 9 primary due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Nevada Secretary of State.

“All active registered voters in Nevada will be mailed an absentee ballot for the primary election. No action or steps, such as submitting an absentee ballot request application, will be required by individual voters in order to receive a ballot in the mail,” according to the Secretary of State.

Utah is one of five states that votes primarily by mail, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The state usually allows in-person voting at voting centers but for the primary, Utah will only allow voting by mail or at voting centers where ballots can be dropped off, according to the outlet.

In previous elections, most voters get ballots in the mail, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t vote in-person. Very few people end up choosing the latter, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

“This year, 90 percent of ballots were cast by mail. In 2016, it was about 81 percent. So we had more people voting and a higher percentage of people voting by mail,” Justin Lee, director of elections for Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Trump voted by mail in Florida’s presidential primary and has voted by absentee ballot in previous elections, according to NPR.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Wednesday that because Trump was a “high-level official” away from his state, it was the “most appropriate option,” NPR reported.

“He supports mail-in voting for a reason,” McEnany said. “When you have a reason that you’re unable to be present.”

Other Republicans have echoed Trump’s comments about mail voting.

“A national vote-by-mail system would open the door to a new set of problems, such as potential election fraud,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel — and Romney’s niece — said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. “At this time of uncertainty, we need to have faith in our election process.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Pushing back against Trump, Romney says 90% of ‘very Republican’ Utah votes by mail."