Seemingly motivated by worries about his political prospects heading into the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump on Wednesday intensified his attacks on mail-in ballots.
Trump, who previously said he was “allowed to” vote by mail in Florida’s March 17 primary, has railed against Democratic-led states offering that same opportunity to their voters. Despite the risk of casting in-person ballots during the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has encouraged Republicans to fight against mail-in voting, claiming it “doesn’t work out well” for their party politically. Lately, the president and his allies have amplified the conspiracy theory that voting by mail encourages voter fraud.
On Wednesday, Trump posted a tweet threatening to “hold up funding” to the state of Michigan after it sent applications for voting by mail to registered voters. Trump’s tweet falsely claimed both that Michigan sent voters the actual ballots needed to vote and that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson “illegally” permitted them to be sent.
“I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” he said. | 
