A tweet by President Trump early Wednesday threatened to withhold federal funding to Michigan after its secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson (D), announced all of the state’s registered voters would receive applications for absentee ballots in the mail this year.
The President's tweet charged that the step was done “illegally” and threatened to withhold funding if the state did not reverse course, suggesting the move would encourage voter fraud.
On his tweet, President trump copied the acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and the Treasury Department, about Michigan and also copied Vought and the Treasury Department on the post about Nevada.
Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson responded to the President's tweet, correcting him by saying that the state "sent applications, not ballots" and pointing out that Republican secretaries of state have done the same.
The President has frequently voiced his opposition to expanding mail-in voting, leveling unsubstantiated and exaggerated claims that mail-in ballots are riddled with fraud and are “corrupt.”
Most voting experts admit there are occasionally higher levels of voter fraud in mail-in voting than in-person voting, but they agree that overall cases of voter fraud are rare.
Read more: TheHill.com