President Trump cast a mail-in ballot in Florida's primary election last week, according to records obtained by Politico, marking the second time he has voted by mail while continuing to claim without evidence that the practice is rife with fraud.
The ballot was requested in late July and returned on Aug. 13 in Palm Beach County, where Trump is a registered voter and maintains his Mar-a-Lago residence. The White House did not dispute the report, with spokesperson Olivia Wales dismissing it as a “non-story” because Trump “primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C.”
Wales pointed to the president's support for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote and includes exceptions for mail-in ballots for “illness, disability, military, or travel.” That same rationale was used in March, when Trump voted by mail in a Florida special election.
Trump's latest mail-in vote comes as he has stepped up his attacks on mail-in voting, which he has repeatedly called “mail-in cheating.” In March, he defended his own mail-in ballot by arguing there is a distinction between voting by mail when living out of state and doing so within one's home state. “No, I think mail-in voting is a terrible thing. I think if you vote, you should go,” he said at the time.
His actions have drawn criticism from Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who last March called it “king-like behavior.” “Rules for me that don't apply, but not for thee,” Jeffries told reporters.
The president's history on mail-in voting is fraught. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he railed against mail-in voting as millions of Americans sought to avoid crowded polling places. His rhetoric laid the groundwork for his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
In March, Trump signed an executive order restricting mail-in voting, requiring states to verify citizenship lists with the U.S. Postal Service before sending ballots. A federal judge later struck down the order, ruling it did not apply in more than 20 Democratic-led states. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote that the order was “causing confusion” and “threatening both increasing chaos and an erosion of trust in our democracy.”
The president's latest mail-in vote also comes as he faces criticism from within his own party over his handling of various issues, and as his approval ratings have sunk to new lows amid international tensions.
Trump's voting record remains a point of contention, with his repeated use of mail-in ballots clashing with his public denunciations of the practice. The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office had not yet responded to requests for confirmation as of press time.
