{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Yes","color":"#624960","stance":"yes"},{"text":"No","color":"#4ac6ec","stance":"no"}],"id":44555,"title":"Trump Threatens to Cut Election Funding to Michigan, Nevada Over Absentee Voting - Would You Support Cuts?","html_content":"\n

by Causes | 5.20.20

What's the story?

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold funding for Michigan and Nevada over the states' plans to expand mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump called the plans illegal - without citing a specific law - and said - without evidence - that efforts to expand mail-in voting could lead to voter fraud. Both states have Democratic governors.

What did Trump threaten?

In a tweet, the president falsely claimed Michigan was sending ballots - not ballot applications - to 7.7 million voters.

“This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Michigan's secretary of state responded:

Later in the day, Trump issued another tweet, this one about the ballot applications:

Nevada recently announced it would make its June 9 state primaries an all-mail election, sending absentee ballots to registered voters. While Nevada's governor is a Democrat, the state official responsible for elections is a Republican. Soon after his Michigan tweet, the president tweeted:

“State of Nevada ‘thinks’ that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State.\"

No evidence of a \"great Voter Fraud scenario\"

Elections are run by state and local governments, and it's unclear what legal means Trump would have to withhold funds from the states.
Numerous studies have found little evidence of mail-in voting leading to fraud. Research has also found that there is no evidence that expanding absentee voting benefits one party over the other.
Ronna McDaniel - chair of the Republican National Committee - said two days ago that she's fine with absentee ballot applications.

\"Personally, I don't really have an issue with absentee ballot request forms being sent out to voters as much as ballots being sent directly to voters. ... We are really against, when people talk about mail-in voting, the ballots being sent directly to people who may or may not want them or sent to all the registered voters even when their voter rolls have not been cleaned up.\"

What do you think?

Should Trump withhold funds from states that expand mail-in voting? Take action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

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Wounded veterans constitute a significant percentage of my students, as do minorities and international students. I suppose I had naively imagined that progress had been made on social issues during the 1970s, but everything negative seems to be hanging around, and the new administration in Washington worries and offends me. I feel compelled to voice my concerns because America cannot survive without reason, compassion, and an energetic sense of humor.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"verymary","issue_count":13,"is_following":null,"influence_score":4690,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":176,"following_count":483,"position_count":160,"id":"jZB7LVzm","partner_id":null},{"name":"NoHedges","vote_count":927,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/8mrvdyDm/large_8mrvdydm-1592097359.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/8mrvdyDm/small_8mrvdydm-1592097359.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/8mrvdyDm/tiny_8mrvdydm-1592097359.jpg","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/100000167747050/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/8mrvdyDm/following","followers":"/api/users/8mrvdyDm/followers"},"about_me":"Unless someone like us cares a whole awful lot,\nNothing is going to get better. No, it is not!","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/keri-lamle","slug":"nohedges","issue_count":137,"is_following":null,"influence_score":8360,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":190,"following_count":482,"position_count":885,"id":"8mrvdyDm","partner_id":null},{"name":"Sandra","vote_count":406,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49Nx4akZ/large_49nx4akz-1589993002.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49Nx4akZ/small_49nx4akz-1589993002.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49Nx4akZ/tiny_49nx4akz-1589993002.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/49Nx4akZ/following","followers":"/api/users/49Nx4akZ/followers"},"about_me":"Mother, grandmother, former med. asst., cake decorator, author, poet, conservationist, animal lover","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":2700,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":115,"following_count":331,"position_count":392,"id":"49Nx4akZ","partner_id":null}],"article_comment":{"flagged":false,"id":1260053,"body":"Voting is our most basic American right! Every American needs to vote safely! To take that away is the most extremely UNAMERICAN act yet!.\n\nSomeone needs to tell the king of incompetency to at least pretend to be American.","parent_type":"Article","parent_id":44555,"created_at":"2020-05-24T17:20:49.495Z","liked":false,"like_count":3,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/comments/1260053","likers":"https://www.causes.com/api/v1/likers?likeable_id=1260053&likeable_type=Comment"},"article_id":44555,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/comments/1260053.png","note":{"text":"No","color":"#4ac6ec","stance":"no"},"note_text":"No","note_color":"#4ac6ec","user_id":"W3MPKdXr","liker_ids":["jZB7LVzm","8mrvdyDm","49Nx4akZ"]}}

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