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Donald Trump says he opposes more funding for Postal Service because of mail-in voting

Donald Trump is up for re-election on November 3 - Stefani Reynolds/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Donald Trump is up for re-election on November 3 - Stefani Reynolds/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Donald Trump has said he is against giving more money to the struggling US Postal Service because he doesn't want to expand mail-in voting, believing it will give the Democrats an advantage in the November election.

Congressmen had sought a $25 billion cash injection into the Postal Service earlier in the year as part of legislation to help with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which Mr Trump opposed.

But on Thursday during a Fox Business interview Mr Trump said the reason for his opposition was that the money would help the service ensure more Americans were able to vote by mail in November, something he opposes.

“Now, they need that money in order to make the Post Office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Mr Trump said on the subject.

He added: “If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped.”

The remarks come despite the Postal Service warning at the start of the pandemic that drops in the use of mail could see it run out of money in October.

It is just the latest sign of Mr Trump’s vehement opposition to the increased use of mail-in ballots, which he has claimed are more vulnerable to fraud and will lead to a “rigged” election.

Critics have claimed that Mr Trump’s opposition comes from a belief that the Democrats rather than the Republicans will benefit from a major increase in postal ballots.

Many states have been changing their rules to ensure more people can vote by post because of the increased risk of in-person voting due to Covid-19.

Mr Trump said in his interview: “There’s nothing wrong with getting out and voting. … They voted during World War One and World War Two.”

The US president’s fierce opposition to mail-in voting has led to speculation that he could seek to launch legal challenges after the election if results are close in some US states.

Mr Trump recently loosely floated in a tweet the idea of delaying the November 3 election, but received firm push back from Republican and Democrat congressmen who would need to approve any such change.

The picture of who can use mail-in ballots across America is complicated by the fact that states rather than the federal government determine election rules.

Nearly 75 per cent of US voters are currently allowed to make their choice by post if desired, according to a recent analysis by The New York Times.

Polls suggest that there is a vast increase in the percentage of people who plan to vote by postal ballot for the 2020 election compared to past cycles.

It could create knock-on issues including delayed result announcements as states, whose election offices face issues with under-funding, count mail-in ballots as they arrive in the post.

While Mr Trump has argued that widespread fraud in postal ballots has been proved in the past there is little evidence of mass ballot-stuffing in recent elections.

Mr Trump has been accused of hypocrisy - he has voted by mail from Florida, where he is now registered as a voter after formally moving his place of residence from New York.

The president says that he has no issue with absentee ballots - postal votes allowed for people who may be away on election day - but opposes universal mail-in ballots, where every voter is sent a voting slip in the post.

During the interview, Mr Trump denied he was trailing Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, despite polls consistently showing him behind.

“This is almost like a replay of four years ago - they said I was going to lose every swing state the day before, except I won every swing state. And most of them [I won] pretty easy,” Mr Trump told Fox Business.

He also predicted he would be victorious on November 3, saying: "One of the reasons I'm going to win a second time is people have made up a fortune with me.”