华盛顿——总统，情况突然逆转唐纳德·特朗普在批评了几个月之后，就在威胁要就一项新的邮件投票法起诉内华达州几天之后，现在正在鼓励处于关键摇摆状态的佛罗里达州的选民通过邮件投票。
在他的鼓励下，民主党要求在佛罗里达州投票支持邮政的呼声越来越高，特朗普几乎肯定要赢得这个州才能确保连任。据佛罗里达州国务卿称，民主党目前有190万名佛罗里达州人在今年11月通过邮件报名投票，比共和党的130万多了近60万人。
2016年，双方都有约130万人在大选前签约选举。
“不管你称之为邮寄投票还是缺席投票，在佛罗里达州选举系统是安全可靠的，可靠可靠的。佛罗里达的投票系统已经被清理干净了(我们击败了民主党试图改变的努力)，所以在佛罗里达，我鼓励所有人请求投票&通过邮件投票!特朗普周二在推特上写道。
白宫新闻秘书凯丽·麦克纳尼否认总统改变了他的观点。她说，他支持通过邮件进行缺席投票是有原因的，而不是各州将选票邮寄给所有选民，不管他们是否提出要求。大多数选举官员说缺席投票和邮寄投票之间没有什么有效的区别。
特朗普详细阐述了他为什么支持佛罗里达州的邮件投票，而不是其他地方。
特朗普说:“他们这么做已经很多年了，他们做得非常棒。”
他补充道:“这需要数年时间。”“这不需要几周或几个月。在内华达州，他们将在几周内投票。你不能这么做。”
然而，佛罗里达州几乎没有完美选举的历史，最明显的是在2000年，该州有争议的计票问题不得不由美国最高法院解决，乔治·w·布什取代了阿尔·戈尔成为总统。
特朗普以纽约的一场比赛为例说明了什么会出错，声称没人知道谁会赢。在那次选举中，一名法官周一裁定，大约1000张有争议的选票应该被计算在内。这可能不会影响选举结果，因为现任的长期民主党众议员卡罗琳·马洛尼以大约3700票领先她最接近的挑战者。
“我认为他们必须重新进行选举。那次选举并不好。”
在今年的初选中，越来越多的选民选择邮寄投票，几个州放宽了邮寄缺席投票的限制。特朗普本人在今年早些时候的佛罗里达州初选中通过邮件投票。
甚至在冠状病毒大流行引发人们对亲自投票的担忧之前，就有五个州依赖邮寄投票，但没有证据支持特朗普的主张，即邮寄投票会导致广泛的欺诈。
特朗普甚至在推特上暗示，11月的选举应该推迟，“直到人们能够适当、安全和稳妥地投票。”
专门使用邮寄投票的州表示，他们有必要的安全措施来确保敌对的外国行为者不会干扰投票。选举安全专家表示，在所有形式的投票中，包括通过邮件投票，选民欺诈都很少见。
由于佛罗里达退休人口众多，邮寄投票预计将在今年11月成为一种更受欢迎的选择。佛罗里达州参议员马尔科·卢比奥周六被问及他是否对这一选择感到担忧。他简短地说:“不，我不关心佛罗里达州的邮寄投票。”
佛罗里达州共和党官员欢迎特朗普的推文。
“谢谢你的澄清，总统先生!这非常有帮助，”佛罗里达州共和党主席乔·格鲁特斯说。"佛罗里达会给你29张选举人票!"
佛罗里达州被认为是特朗普连任的必赢之州。它的总统竞选通常很接近，特朗普在2016年仅以1.2个百分点获胜，乔治·布什在2000年仅以537票赢得佛罗里达州。
内华达州的立法者最近通过了一项法案，该法案将在11月选举前，将该州加入到越来越多的美国州邮寄积极选民选票的名单中。
该法案于周日获得通过，周一由民主党州长史蒂夫·西索莱克签署成为法律。内华达州加入了七个计划自动邮寄选票的州，包括加州和佛蒙特州，这两个州在今年夏天早些时候采取了自动邮寄选票政策。
特朗普在周一早上的一条推文中称该法案的通过是“非法的深夜政变”。他指责西索拉克利用COVID-19来确保内华达州的投票支持民主党。
Trump encourages mail voting in key battleground Florida
WASHINGTON -- In an abrupt reversal, PresidentDonald Trumpnow is encouraging voters in the critical swing state of Florida to vote by mail after months of criticizing the practice, and only days after threatening to sue Nevada over a new vote-by-mail law.
His encouragement follows a surge in Democratic requests to vote for mail in Florida, a state that Trump almost certainly must win to secure a second term. Democrats currently have about 1.9 million Floridians signed up to vote by mail this November, almost 600,000 more than the Republicans’ 1.3 million, according to the Florida Secretary of State.
In 2016, both sides had about 1.3 million signed up before the generalelection.
“Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida theelectionsystem is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany rejected the notion that the president has changed his views. She said he supports absentee voting by mail for a reason, as opposed to states mailing out ballots to all voters regardless of whether they requested them. Most election officials say there is little effective difference between absentee voting and voting by mail.
Trump elaborated on why he supports voting by mail in Florida, but not elsewhere.
“They’ve been doing this over many years and they’ve made it really terrific," Trump said.
“This took years to do," he added. "This doesn’t take weeks or months. In the case of Nevada, they’re going to be voting in a matter of weeks. And you can’t do that.”
Yet Florida hardly has a history of flawless elections, most notably in 2000 when the state's disputed vote count had to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, delivering the presidency to George W. Bush over Al Gore.
Trump cited a New York race as an example of what can go wrong, claiming no one could know the winner. In that race, a judge ruled Monday that about 1,000 disputed ballots should be counted. That will likely not affect the outcome since the incumbent, longtime Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney is leading her closest challenger by about 3,700 votes.
“I think they have to do the election over. That election is no good," Trump said.
More voters during this year's primary elections opted to vote by mail, and several states relaxed restrictions for voting absentee through the mail. Trump himself voted by mail in the Florida primary earlier this year.
Five states have relied on mail-in ballots since even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person, but there is no evidence to support Trump's assertion that voting by mail leads to widespread fraud.
Trump has gone so far as to suggest by tweet that the November election should be delayed “until people can properly, securely and safely vote.”
States that use mail-in votes exclusively say they have necessary safeguards in place to ensure that a hostile foreign actor doesn’t disrupt the vote. Election security experts say voter fraud is rare in all forms of balloting, including by mail.
With Florida’s large retirement population, voting by mail is expected to become a more popular option this November. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was asked Saturday if he had concerns about the option. “No, I’m not concerned about mail-in voting in Florida,” he said tersely.
Florida GOP officials welcomed Trump's tweet.
“Thank you for the clarification Mr President! This is very helpful,” said Joe Gruters, the chair of Florida’s Republican Party. “Florida will deliver you the 29 electoral votes!”
Florida is considered a must-win state for Trump's reelection prospects. Its presidential contests are usually close, with Trump winning by just 1.2 percentage points in 2016, and George W. Bush winning Florida by just 537 votes in 2000.
Nevada lawmakers have recently passed a bill that would add the state to a growing list of U.S. states mailing active voters ballots ahead of the November election.
The bill, which was passed Sunday, was signed into law Monday by Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat. Nevada joins seven states that plan on automatically sending voters mail ballots, including California and Vermont, which moved earlier this summer to adopt automatic mail ballot policies.
Trump called the bill’s passage “an illegal late night coup” in a tweet Monday morning. He accused Sisolak of exploiting COVID-19 to ensure votes in Nevada would favor Democrats.
