WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning appeared to threaten funding for Michigan amid a global health pandemic if state officials move ahead with plans to …
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning appeared to threaten funding for Michigan amid a global health pandemic if state officials move ahead with plans to send absentee ballot applications to every state voter.
It was far from clear, however, if the president understood what he was talking about.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Tuesday morning said, in a story first reported in the Free Press, that she and local clerks will send absentee ballot applications to all of the state’s 7.7 voters so they can, if they choose to do so, take part in the Aug.4 and Nov.3 elections without going to polling places.
More: Secretary of State: All Michigan voters will get absentee ballot applications at home
More: If GOP wants safe, fair Michigan elections, it shouldn’t fight Benson’s bold initiative
Doing so would allow them to avoid the potential threat posed by the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.
But Trump’s post on Twitter about 7:50 a.m. appeared to suggest that Michigan was in the process of sending absentee ballots themselves — not the applications for people to ask for them if they wish to vote — to voters.
He wrote that it’s illegal for anyone to send unsolicited absentee ballots to voters and said that if it occurs, he will «ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!»
He also referred to Benson as a «rogue Secretary of State,» without mentioning her by name.
Trump made a similar threat on Twitter Wednesday morning about efforts in Nevada to ensure voters get absentee ballots.
