Donald Trump has waged war against mail-in voting, but many Republicans would fight him were he to take that too far, according to a report.
In an article called "Trump faces a hurdle in banning mail-in voting: His own Republican Party," NBC News reported, "Voter turnout by mail exceeded 30% in at least 14 states and D.C. Trump won half of those states, most of which have Republican governors or secretaries of state overseeing elections."
The outlet reported that, despite insistence from the president to do away with mail-in voting, "Those inside his own fiercely loyal political party aren’t so sure that’s a good idea."
The article quoted Michigan state House Majority Leader Bryan Posthumus, a Republican who endorsed Trump last year, who said, “My view on vote-by-mail is that I think it should be permissible."
“But I also believe that currently, the way it exists, specifically in Michigan, it is the highest risk for fraud," the Republican told NBC.
Posthumus further said, "We shouldn’t just go off and get rid of voting by mail... We need to buckle down and secure the weakness and vulnerability in it... I’ve always been a proponent that it should be easy to vote and hard to cheat. As long as our vote-by-mail systems are secure, then the access to the ballot box that it allows for is a good thing.”
According to the outlet, "Posthumus’ perspective was echoed by nearly a dozen other GOP officials across the country who sympathized with Trump’s grievances and agreed that changes to mail-in balloting are necessary."
"But they question whether Trump could — or should — legally enact a ban. Some also worry a ban could create issues for members of the military who vote overseas and for Republican candidates in states where voting by mail is popular," according to the report.
The article goes on to quote Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont Republican Party, who said that no one supports a full mail-in ban.
“As Trump often does, sometimes he overstates his case,” he said, adding, "I don’t think anyone supports a complete elimination. That would disenfranchise men and women overseas. I’m sure that’s not his intention.”
Jim Runestad, a Michigan state senator who also serves as the state’s GOP chair, additionally noted Trump has legal obstacles to doing this by executive order.
GOP Chair Jim Eschenbaum also noted the issue with the military.
“We can’t get rid of vote by mail because we’ve got military serving, and if anybody deserves a vote in our elections, it’s the people that are willing to die for us,” Eschenbaum said. “So we can’t ban it, but I think it should be limited in the respect that it is somewhat ripe for fraud.”