PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 13, 2020
Salt Lake City, UT – Today, President Trump stated in an interview segment on Fox News that he apparently opposes increased funding for the USPS out of opposition to voting by mail. Speaking about Democrats’ push for emergency funding for the USPS and election resources, Trump said, “Now they need that money in order to have the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots….But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.”
Back in March, Trump said in an interview that he opposed increased voter turnout out of partisan competitiveness. Referring to Democrats’ funding proposals in the original stimulus bill negotiations, Trump said, “They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
Katie Matheson, communications director for Alliance for a Better Utah, issued the following statement:
“Utahns love voting by mail, and we are lucky that we already had this system in place well before the pandemic. Until now, we all felt relatively safe when it came to voting. But Utahns’ votes will not be secured if Trump continues to undermine the USPS. Utah has a unique perspective and responsibility as a traditionally red state that champions vote-by-mail, and we need all of Utah’s leaders to help protect it. We need Mike Lee, Mitt Romney, John Curtis, Chris Stewart, Ben McAdams, and Rob Bishop to do everything in their power to protect our ability to safely and accurately vote by mail. Our top elections official, Spencer Cox, also has a job to do here, and Utahns deserve to know what he’s doing to ensure that our election this fall is secure and fair.”
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Alliance for a Better Utah is a nonprofit that holds politicians accountable and advocates for progressive policies that make Utah an even better place. The organization improves the lives of all Utahns through advocacy, transparency, and accountability in Utah politics, policy, and government. More information at www.betterutah.org.