President Donald Trump defended his recommendation to delay the 2020 election, saying the contest could be "fixed" or "rigged" if the voters are forced to use mail-in ballots to choose a candidate.
"It's common sense," Trump said to reporters during his news conference on Thursday. "I want an election, and a result, much more than you. I think we're doing very well. ... I don't want to see a rigged election."
Reporters also asked about a tweet Trump sent out earlier on Thursday suggesting that using mail-in ballots could lead to voter fraud. Trump said an election that took mail-in ballots could lead to lost ballots and other delays that wouldn't deliver results for months past Election Day.
The response comes after Trump received blowback from Republicans and Democrats on Thursday. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on a Kentucky television station the election won't be moving.
Fox News had previously reported numerous problems with using mail-in ballots in previous elections. An Augusta, Georgia news report also showed the United States Postal Service mishandling mail-in ballots in a test run. That report was tweeted out by the president.
"We all agree that absentee voting is good," Trump said, which involves citizens giving a legitimate reason before being able to vote by mail. Trump then suggested Democrats were hypocrites for worrying about Russian election interference but ignoring the risks associated with mail-in voting.
"Mail-in voting will lead to the greatest fraud," Trump added. "Stupid people may not know it."
In the past, former President Jimmy Carter has pointed out the dangers of mail-in voting.
"Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud," a bipartisan 2005 report authored by the Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker read.
A New York Times article from 2012 headlined, "Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises," also made the point. It reads "votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth, statistics show."
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