Klobuchar accuses Trump of trying to suppress the vote by opposing expanded mail-in voting

• Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) accused President Donald Trump of trying to “suppress the vote” by scaring voters with unsubstantiated claims against mail-in voting.
• Klobuchar pointed out that the president opposes mail-in voting because he himself said it would hurt his reelection bid.
• Klobuchar argued that voters shouldn’t have to choose “between their health and whether they can vote” during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) accused President Donald Trump of trying to “suppress the vote” by scaring voters with unsubstantiated claims that mail-in voting is open to widespread fraud.

Klobuchar remarked that the president’s opposition against expanded mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic is an effort to save his bid for reelection.

The senator pointed out in an interview with The Hill’s Steve Clemons on Wednesday: “He has said that the vote by mail is going to hurt him in his election. So what does he do, which is his typical playbook? He then claims that it’s fraudulent to scare people in a blatant effort to suppress the vote.”

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a group of Democratic Senators, led by Klobuchar, to introduce the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act in March. It aims to promote mail-in voting and expand early voting access during the crisis.

But Trump kept pushing back with his unsubstantiated claims against it.

Klobuchar countered against the president’s claims: “He says it is fraudulent, yet if you look at a state like Oregon, which is nearly 100 percent vote by mail … the fraud rate is like 0.0000001 percent or something like that. It’s crazy.”

Klobuchar’s attempt to push the bill through the Senate on Tuesday was blocked by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who raised concerns that it would federalize the election process.

The bill would allot $3 million to the Election Assistance Commission for the costs of implementing new requirements, including the expansion of early voting to 20 days before the election and extending the time for absentee ballots to be counted. 

Klobuchar said in the interview that she’s pushing for the bill because voters shouldn’t have to choose “between their health and whether they can vote.” 

“What we’re trying to do here is put some minimal standards in. Just have the polls open for 20 days ahead, you can go more if you want. To train the workers, make sure that you don’t have egregious requirements in place,” Klobuchar added.

Source: The Hill