Whitmer Puts Trump On Blast Over Election Comments

MICHIGAN — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took aim at President Donald Trump Thursday following comments by the president suggesting a possible delay to the Nov. 3 presidential election due to his own concerns that it could be the "most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history."

Whitmer said the president should focus on saving American lives during the coronavirus pandemic rather than threaten to delay the 2020 election and called on Trump to work with Congress to protect small business owners and frontline workers.

“It’s clear that the president is more focused on his chances in the 2020 election than on protecting families from a virus that has killed more than 150,000 Americans," Whitmer said. "The truth is that mail-in absentee voting is safe, simple, and patriotic – so much so that the president and more than a dozen of his closest advisors have done it.

"If we could hold an election in 1864 in the midst of a Civil War threatening to tear our country apart, we can and will hold one in 2020. It’s time for the president to get his priorities straight and work with Congress on a bipartisan recovery package that protects our families, frontline workers, and small business owners.”

Trump floated the idea of a "delay" to the election Thursday morning on Twitter. The president tweeted: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

According to The Associated Press, the dates of presidential elections are enshrined in federal law and would require an act of Congress to change.

Trump has mentioned before his concerns with mail-in voting, suggesting it could lead to voter fraud and other issues. In May, he called out Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson without using her name after her office said it would send applications for absentee ballots ahead of elections held during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election," the President tweeted at the time. "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!.."

Related: 'False': MI SOS Responds After Trump Tweet On Absentee Ballots

Benson's office on Wednesday said it was taking extra precautions ahead of August and November elections, which included:

• Implementing automatic voter registration and online voter registration
• Ensuring all voters were informed of their new right to vote from home and provided an absent voter application
• Launching an online absent voter ballot application
• Expanding options for voters with disabilities to cast absent-voter ballots at home and in clerk offices
• Joining the Electronic Registration Information Center to improve the integrity of the state voter registration list
• Hiring the state’s first election security expert
• Ensuring safe in-person voting by providing all election jurisdictions with personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies and protocols for hygiene and social distancing
• Redesigning ballot envelopes to USPS specifications and providing ballot drop boxes, and additional supplies to election jurisdictions
• Recruiting more than 5,000 election workers through the Democracy MVP campaign

“For the past 19 months my administration has worked in partnership with local clerks and national experts to strengthen and modernize our elections system to meet the mandate of the voters,” Benson said in a statement. “That work has continued even in the midst of a pandemic, and our collective efforts have made it easier to vote and harder to cheat in Michigan.”

“These are truly unprecedented times, yet our clerks, the Bureau of Elections and my administration have all worked tirelessly to ensure voting rights are protected. No matter how you choose to vote next week and in November, know that our elections are secure, you will be safe, and your ballot will be counted.”

Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this article.