Dan Patrick: Mail-In Voting a Dem 'Scam' to 'Steal the Election'

An election worker handles vote-by-mail ballots in Washington. (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Friday, 22 May 2020 01:28 PM EDT

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ridiculed the idea that younger people would be too afraid of the coronavirus pandemic to vote in person rather than by mail, and insisted that the push for mail-in ballots is a ploy by Democrats wanting to cheat the vote in fall elections.

"They've been to Lowe's and Home Depot," Patrick said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" about voters who are younger than 65. "Have they been afraid to go out of their house? This is a scam by the Democrats to steal the election … [You'd] have more of a chance of being in a serious auto accident if you're under 65 on the way to vote than you do from catching the virus and dying from it by voting."

Democrats are pushing for national standards to allow voting by mail, casting ballots early and doing their voter's registration online. President Donald Trump opposes expanding voting by mail, saying it leads to voter fraud and "doesn't work out well for Republicans."

"Mail-in ballots are where all the fraud is occurring," Patrick said. "Even the Democrats know this. Just this weekend, the election judge in Philadelphia was arrested for going in the voting booth voting so many times he is facing 15 years in prison. When you have an opportunity to steal a vote, the Democrats will take advantage of it, and this is what it's all about."

Further, people over the age of 65 are already able to use mail-in ballots, said Patrick, adding that there is also a concern about ballots that are mailed out either being stolen from mailboxes or going to an address where people have died, opening the door for fraudulent voting "one at a time or many at a time."

"We have so many elections that are so close in a Democrat primary, Republican primary, general election, and you can swing the ballots easily. I could give you 10 scenarios, but I won't show you can easily steal thousands of votes ... this will destroy America if we allow this to happen, especially when the CDC has been very clear that people over 65 are the most vulnerable, and they can already vote by mail."