President Donald Trump on Friday sparked another controversy over mail-in ballots when he told his supporters to vote in person after sending their mail-in ballots. This statement by the United States President has increased the risk of chaos in polling booths that ultimately increases the risk of spread of COVID-19 and also undermines the confidence in mail-in ballots.
The statement was made by the President during his rally in North Carolina. The first few minutes of his speech were spent explaining his supporters about how to vote. The President urged the voters to go to polling booths even if they have voted by mail-in ballots to check whether their ballots have been counted or not.
The statement has come out as if the President is urging the voters to vote twice, once using the mail-in ballot and secondly by voting in person. Following the controversy, the Election Board has released a warning that voting twice is a federal crime and any person involved in such activity will be charged with a felony.
After many media personals and the Election board criticized the President for the statement, the President took to Twitter to explain himself. President wrote on Twitter that every vote should visit the polling booth to check whether his vote has been counted or not. If the vote has already been counted, he would not be able to vote, and if not the voter should vote.
This is not the first time that the United States President has voiced his opinion upon the possible failure of mail-in ballots. The President has repeatedly said that mail-in ballots are a threat to American democracy. It is also worth mentioning that North Carolina was considered to be a stronghold of the Democrats and the primary polls suggest that position has changed as there is a close race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.