Listen to this article

US President Donald Trump has threatened to hold up funding for Michigan State. Point to be noted that this state is more critical in his re-election campaign. So, it moved forward with plans to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus epidemic. On Wednesday morning, President slammed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a tweet. Trump falsely claimed that absentee ballots had already been sent to 7.7 million voters ahead of the November election. He said, “Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. 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”!

The comments of President Trump came after the state sent applications for absentee ballots, instead of the actual ballots (as the president mentioned in his tweet). Trump later deleted his initial post and sent out another tweet in the afternoon correcting his false comments. President claimed the applications were sent illegally. The Michigan Department of State’s Bureau of Election said it would send 6.4 million registered voters living in the state applications to vote by mail in the upcoming elections, along with the 1.3 million permanent absent voters who already had the option to apply for absentee voting. The secretary of state earlier announced that all registered Michigan voters will receive the applications ahead of the August and November elections.

Benson said on Tuesday, “By mailing applications, we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote. Voting by mail is easy, convenient, safe, and secure, and every voter in Michigan has the right to do it”. Michigan had expanded vote by mail options for the state’s local elections earlier this month and 140,000 voters cast ballots, at least double the turnout from May 2010. The Michigan secretary of state said 99% of ballots were sent in by mail or dropbox. Benson said, “The vast majority of voters across the political spectrum want the option to vote by mail. Mailing applications to all registered voters is one of the ways that we are ensuring Michigan’s elections will continue to be safe, accurate, and secure”.