Trump Threatens Funding Cuts from States Encouraging Absentee Ballots
Evan Vucci/AP
We ran the numbers: There are 2708 news articles covering this topic. 47% (1274) are left leaning, 39% (1058) center, 14% (376) right leaning.
On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold aid from Michigan and Nevada because of purportedly illegal activity related to absentee ballots. While left-leaning articles highlight that Trump’s claims are troubling and unconstitutional, right-leaning articles highlight that mail-in voting could lead to rampant fraud.
A left-leaning article by The Washington Post highlights that Trump’s unsupported claims are not only likely unconstitutional, but also exceedingly troubling because they aim to cast doubt on the legitimacy and fairness of the upcoming elections. However, the article states that Trump’s claims about voter fraud also increase the chances that he is going to lose in November, as rural Republicans had a harder time voting by mail in Wisconsin when it held its recent primary under pandemic conditions.
Newsweek published a centrist article reporting that experts caution that state emergency powers are at their highest during a public health crisis and that current election law does not appear to preempt Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s actions to mail all state residents an absentee ballot ahead of the November general election. A spokesperson for Michigan’s Department of State, called Trump’s assessment of Michigan election law “false.”
New York Post published a right-leaning article highlighting that Trump also lashed out at Nevada for its plan to allow mail-in voting, as he previously warned that allowing people to vote in ways other than in person could lead to rampant fraud. While Trump’s re-election campaign is promoting mail voting options, they caution that they are “an invitation to fraud.”