Trump votes by mail despite his criticism: White House explains why

US President Donald Trump voted by mail on Tuesday in Florida’s Republican primary.

Trump’s decision to vote by mail came despite his repeated criticism of the voting method and as he intensified calls to restrict its use ahead of the midterm elections scheduled for November.

Voting records in Palm Beach County show that Trump requested a mail-in ballot in late July in order to cast his vote and returned it last week.

For years, Trump has repeatedly argued that mail-in voting is vulnerable to electoral fraud. He has also repeatedly linked the practice to what he claims were irregularities that affected the results of the 2020 presidential election.

In a speech on election security in July, Trump said that « mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt ».

The White House, however, rejected the idea that Trump’s use of mail-in voting contradicted his position, pointing out that he was outside Florida at the time of the vote.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wiles told Agence France-Presse: « As President Trump has said, the American Voter Eligibility Protection Act contains reasonable exceptions that allow voting by mail in cases of illness, disability, military service or travel, but universal mail-in voting should not be permitted because it is vulnerable to fraud. »

She added: « Everyone knows that the president is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he primarily resides at the White House in Washington », while US officials confirmed that Trump had not visited Florida for several months.

Florida law allows any registered and eligible voter to request a mail-in ballot, although the state has tightened its rules in recent years regarding identity verification and the handling of ballots.

At the same time, Trump is pressuring Congress to pass the American Voter Eligibility Protection Act, a bill that would impose stricter requirements regarding identity and citizenship and significantly restrict voting by mail.