TAMPA, Fla (WFLA) – Several states are preparing to take legal action against the Trump administration following the President’s anti-absentee ballot rhetoric and U.S. Postal Service’s operational changes, but in Florida, the number of mail-in voters is climbing.
By Monday, the Florida Division of Elections reported that of the nearly 2.6 million ballots that had been cast, more than 2.1 million of them were mail-in votes.
That’s more than 77% of the total mail-in votes from the 2016 general election, and nearly 80% of the early votes counted in Florida.
An additional 2.2 million Floridians have requested a mail in ballot for the upcoming election.
The future of mail-in voting and the United States Postal Service came into question at the end of July, with the President tweeting about unfounded concerns of voter fraud through the process, which the President and First lady have both used to cast their ballots in the past and in the current election cycle.
President Trump changed his tune on mail-in voting on Aug. 4 when he urged Floridians to vote by mail.
Across the country, more than 180 million Americans are able to cast a ballot by mail, and 34 states along with the District of Columbia have allowed any voter to cast an absentee ballot.
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