White House defends Trump’s ability to vote by mail

By Bo Erickson and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday defended U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability to vote by mail, after reports the president cast his ballot by mail in Florida’s Republican primary despite previously blasting mail-in ballots as “cheating”.

• “As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel – but universal mail-in voting should not be allowed because it’s highly susceptible to fraud,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said when asked about reports Trump voted by mail in the primary.

• “As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C.,” Wales added.

• Politico reported on Monday that Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, citing local voting records.

• Palm Beach County’s supervisor of elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Trump is pushing Congress to enact new voting restrictions and is trying to restrict mail-in voting, repeating unfounded allegations that it is more ​susceptible to fraud.

• Trump cast his vote by mail in a March special election in Florida.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Chizu Nomiyama )