Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday to launch another attack on the most crucial part in our democracy: voting.
Trump attacked secure drop boxes where voters can leave their ballots if they want to avoid voting in person while also avoiding sending in their ballots by mail.
“Some states use ‘drop boxes’ for the collection of Universal Mail-In Ballots,” the president wrote. “So who is going to ‘collect’ the Ballots, and what might be done to them prior to tabulation? A Rigged Election? So bad for our Country. Only Absentee Ballots acceptable!”
Trump’s attack left people wondering what the president was talking about.
As NPR reporter Miles Parks notes, ballots are collected from drop boxes by the same election officials who collect ballots from the boxes located at polling stations on election day.
“Dropboxes, which are usually monitored 24/7 by video surveillance and weigh 600ish pounds, are actually considered a way to give the voter MORE control over their ballot,” he wrote in response to the president’s tweet. “Election officials pick them up directly, eliminating the USPS (and potential delays) from the process.”
Dropboxes, which are usually monitored 24/7 by video surveillance and weigh 600ish pounds, are actually considered a way to give the voter MORE control over their ballot. Election officials pick them up directly, eliminating the USPS (and potential delays) from the process https://t.co/O8xi6EcbQ4
— Miles Parks (@MilesParks) August 17, 2020
People were perplexed by Trump’s remarks. Here’s what Americans are saying across the country:
And then at in-person polling places there are also “boxes” into which ballots must be dropped. How are those “boxes” managed? How deep does this go? https://t.co/z83LY6l3M5
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 17, 2020
Trump has said FLORIDA is a model for mail-in voting.
Florida uses drop boxes.
They are available at the Supervisor of Elections' main and branch offices and early voting sites https://t.co/qtfTgUemIO https://t.co/4g8hs9S4gA
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 17, 2020
FACT CHECK: @NBCNews asked Ohio's Republican Secretary of State if Ohio experienced voter fraud during its primary – where, by law, a drop box for mail-in ballots was required in each of its 88 counties.
His answer: "Absolutely not." https://t.co/xJgA4PAgdx
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 17, 2020
So weak and scared of democracy and the will of the people. This is someone who knows he’s losing. https://t.co/xgaafHMtzJ
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) August 17, 2020
Guessing you just watched my segment on Fox News with @ericshawntv, because of course you did.
Drop boxes have been in wide use for years and are now in 33 states, some of which vote entirely through vote-by-mail.
Do you want to acknowledge facts, or just undermine elections?
— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) August 17, 2020
This is an insidious lie. Palm Beach County, where Trump voted by mail despite not being legally entitled to live at the address he used as his legal residence, uses drop boxes.
Ultimately the ballots’ signatures are checked against registered voters. https://t.co/E79ZFPQrfO
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) August 17, 2020
Trump is spreading dangerous, fake conspiracies about voting on Twitter again.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 17, 2020
Having already said he doesn't want the Post Office funded because “that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it," Trump is now attacking the alternative of drop boxes https://t.co/klehaT9wje
— Steven Lemongello (@SteveLemongello) August 17, 2020
Ironically, drop boxes mitigate Trump's two biggest objections to mail voting: possible fraud, and slow mail delivery. Drop boxes help reduce opportunities for fraud/interference by securing the chain of custody, and allow voters to return their ballots without the USPS
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) August 17, 2020
A day after retweeting Biden/Poroshenko audio released by a Ukrainian lawmaker whom his own intel agencies say is a Russian asset, Trump is pushing a baseless conspiracy theory that fundamentally misunderstands how mail-in voting systems work. https://t.co/tt2GM1gz2x
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) August 17, 2020
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