Fox News host Dana Perino on Thursday pushed back on President Donald Trump urging his supporters to vote twice, saying the president’s suggestion to vote by both mail and in-person is “illegal” and “not smart.”
During his visit to North Carolina on Wednesday, the president encouraged voters to stress-test the state’s early-voting system, telling reporters to “let them send it in and let them go vote.” He went on to say that “if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote.”
The president, who has repeatedly alleged that mail-in voting is rife with widespread fraud (without providing evidence), doubled down on the suggestion Thursday, calling on his supporters to mail in their ballots early and then also go to their polling place on Election Day to see if their vote has been tabulated.
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“If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen’s right to do),” Trump tweeted. “If your Mail In Ballot arrives after you Vote, which it should not, that Ballot will not be used or counted in that your vote has already been cast & tabulated.”
“It is one man, one vote,” Perino told fellow Fox anchor Sandra Smith. “The way it should be. That’s the way the laws are. That’s what everybody should expect and everyone should try.”
The former George W. Bush White House flack went on to say that while “voting in person is ideal,” the country is “in the middle of a pandemic” and many voters are relying on mail-in voting this year.
“The fraud that the president suggested has not happened as much as he has said,” Perino added, noting some states “have handled it well” in past elections.
“I think that it’s not smart to suggest people vote twice,” she declared. “It is also, according to the North Carolina election official down there, it is illegal to suggest that people vote twice.”
The longtime GOP comms specialist then offered up a bit of advice to Team Trump: “I think that maybe that one I would scratch off the talking point list if I were them.”
