WASHINGTON (US) – President Donald Trump has ignited yet another controversy ahead of the presidential polls by urging voters in North Carolina to attempt to vote twice, once by mail and once in person. This has created a furore as it appears to urge voter fraud.
“Let them send it in and let them go vote,” he said in an interview in Wilmington, North Carolina. “And if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote” in person.
The president had repeatedly said that mail-in ballots by some states could increase the chance of fraud and disrupt the presidential polls.
On Thursday night while addressing a rally, Trump said voters should go to the polls even if they have posted their ballot and he hinted that Democrats would attempt to steal the election by rigging the mail-in vote.
“You have to make sure your vote counts, because the only way they’re gonna beat us is by doing that kind of stuff,” he said in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which is a swing state.
In some states, including North Carolina, voting twice is a felony and even inducing another to do so is a crime.
Ballots in North Carolina are slated to be posted on Friday.
Democratic State Attorney General Josh Stein tweeted that the Republican president had “outrageously encouraged” North Carolinians “to break the law in order to help him sow chaos in our election.”
“Make sure you vote, but do NOT vote twice! I will do everything in my power to make sure the will of the people is upheld in November.”
However, the president’s campaign and the White House denied that he actually urged people to vote twice.
“The president is not suggesting anyone do anything unlawful,” White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Thursday. “What he said very clearly there is make sure your vote is tabulated and if it is not, then vote.”