Former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams says President Donald Trump tweeted about delaying the November election for two reasons.
In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Abrams said Trump threw out that idea on Twitter to “distract us from his failed leadership” amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Additionally, Abrams said she believes Trump is raising concerns about mail-in voting to try to undermine Americans’ confidence in the electoral process.
“What I’m worried about is that we will not be able to effectively count the votes of every eligible American because he’s doing his best to undermine our confidence in the process,” she said.
“But worse, he’s doing his best to actually steal the vote,” Abrams claimed.
Abrams noted that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic an estimated that roughly 40% of Americans use “some form of early voting, including vote by mail.”
“That means we have to be prepared, and that means we have to have a postal service that’s working. But we also need the HEROES Act passed so that cash-strapped states like Arkansas, like Georgia, like North Carolina, like Wisconsin, can scale up and deliver an election that is worthy of America,” she said.
Watch the video below:
Stacey Abrams on Pres. Trump and the November election: “What I’m worried about is that we will not be able to effectively count the votes of every eligible American because he’s doing his best to undermine our confidence in the process." #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/peIclVDTY9
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) August 2, 2020
Abrams’ comments come days after Trump appeared to suggest delaying the general election — which he does not have the power to do — as IJR reported.
However, Trump later said that he does not want to delay the election and was simply trying to raise awareness to what he said is the “risk to our democracy” associated with mail-in ballots.
While Trump has repeatedly warned that vastly expanding access to mail-in voting would lead to massive voter fraud, there is no evidence that mail-in ballots result in massive fraud.
However, there are concerns that the Postal Service will be overwhelmed by a wave of mail-in ballots if it does not receive emergency funding. Democrats have pushed for the new funding in negotiations over another round of coronavirus relief. However, Republicans have rejected that spending.
Additionally, there are concerns that cost-saving measures implemented by Postmaster-General Louis DeJoy will lead to delays in delivering mail-in ballots in time for the election.
Last month, DeJoy also rolled out a new restructuring plan of the Postal Service and warned that postal workers might leave “mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks.”