Fresh off comparing notes with his fellow authoritarian, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump is once again painting a target on vote-by-mail: a popular, secure, and reliable voting option that millions of Americans rely on.
Putin, who knows which puppet strings to pull, told Trump exactly what he wanted to hear: that if not for mail-in ballots, Trump would've never lost the 2020 election that he just can't seem to let go. [1]
Let's state the obvious, Pamela, there's not one ounce of truth to this Russian fairy tale.
And he can't change the facts. Vote-by-mail is a paper-based system that's not hackable -- and can easily be audited to ensure the election results are correct. [2] That's why 58% of Americans across party lines support it. [3]
And while Trump makes stuff up all the time, his attacks on vote-by-mail were among his more dangerous lies – directly inciting the January 6th attack and fueling a wave of anti-voter laws in states like Florida and Texas.
Now, he says he wants to end vote-by-mail by executive order [3] – he can't, but even an attempt that gets thrown out in court could seriously disrupt voters this year and next.
And that's the point. Trump is following the same playbook as his fellow authoritarians – force your agenda through by any means necessary, then silence dissent and mess with free and fair elections so you don't have to defend your actions to voters.
We're not going to let that happen, Pamela. While we don't know if Trump will back up his words with action here or just lose interest, we DO know that any attempt by Trump's White House to force states to end vote-by-mail would be blatantly unconstitutional.
But we also know that just because something is unconstitutional, that's no guarantee Trump won't try it anyway. That means we need to set aside resources to push back the instant Trump takes action – at the same time, we're already resisting on multiple fronts.
Common Cause led the fight for an emergency vote-by-mail expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 election – and educated and protected voters as they used it to make their voices heard. Now, if we want a free and fair election in 2026, we may need to do it again.
Common Cause is the leading nationwide voice for your right to vote – and we'll take on anyone who tries to deny you that right, even a President. Can you chip in to help power this fight and defend vote-by-mail?
YOU make all of this work possible, Pamela – so I hope we can count on your immediate action.
Thanks for all you do,
The team at Common Cause
[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/26/twitter-fact-check-trump-voting-fraud-tweets-282844
[2] https://www.verifiedvoting.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Election-Security-and-Accessible-VBM.5.20-1.pdf
[3] https://www.commoncause.org/democracy-wire/
the-american-people-are-clear-they-support-voting-by-mail-and-other-options-to-expand-access-to-the-ballot/
[4]https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/does-trump-have-the-power-to-end-mail-in-voting-legal-scholar-weighs-in
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