White House Press Chief Defends Own Votes by Mail

Absentee voting is fine, says Kayleigh McEnany, but mail-in voting for no reason is not
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2020 5:12 PM CDT
White House Press Chief Defends Own Votes by Mail
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a briefing at the White House Thursday, May 28, 2020, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Trump has been on a tear against the idea of letting people vote by mail because he says it's prone to fraud. Consequently, his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, has been making a similar argument against mail ballots. But the Tampa Bay Times dug up an interesting nugget about the Tampa native: She votes by mail a lot. In every Florida election in which she has voted since 2010—11 in all—she has done so by mail. In fact, both she and Trump voted by mail in the Florida primary earlier this year. Asked about this Thursday on Fox News, McEnany drew a distinction between what she and the president did and what she says Democrats are pushing.

"Every American is entitled to vote the way that I did," she said. "If you are someone who is working out of state but your domicile is in a different state, you are absolutely entitled to request an absentee ballot and to cast your ballot by mail." Trump feels the same way, she added. What they both oppose is what she calls "mass mail-in voting" for no reason. The Tampa newspaper notes that Florida doesn't technically have "absentee voting." It lets anyone vote by mail for any reason. McEnany did not respond to comments on whether she thinks Florida should add restrictions to its law. (Twitter famously fact-checked Trump on the notion that mail-in voting is plagued by fraud.)

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