Trump threatens states' voting funds during pandemic

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday followed up on tweets threatening to hold up federal funds for two election battleground states, that are trying to make it easier and safer to vote during the coronavirus pandemic, by repeatedly insisting that "mail in ballots are very dangerous, there's tremendous fraud involved and tremendous illegality."

The president's tweets targeting Michigan and Nevada marked an escalation in his campaign against voting by mail, a practice that he has publicly worried will lead so many people to vote that Republicans will lose in November.

Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mail voting as a safe option during the pandemic, Trump has opposed the spread of the practice.

Wednesday marked the first time he has tried to use federal dollars to beat it back.

Trump sidestepped reporters questions about people being to scared to vote during the pandemic by saying, "we're going to see how it all works out."

Trump began by targeting Michigan, with a false description of Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's announcement Tuesday that she would send applications for absentee ballots to every voter in the state.

"Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, That brought strong criticism from Michigan and elsewhere, pointing out that the state was sending applications, not actual ballots.

About six hours after his original tweet, Trump corrected it to say "absentee ballot applications."

He kept the rest intact: "This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!"

Trump later made a similar threat against Nevada, which has sent ballots to voters for its June 9 state primary. A federal judge recently cleared Nevada's decision to mail ballots, which were sent by the Republican secretary of state.

It was not clear what funds Trump was referencing. The states are paying for their elections changes through coronavirus relief spending measures the president signed into law.

Notably, the president did not threaten Republican-run states that are doing the same thing as Michigan.

Trump has claimed absentee voting is ripe for fraud although there is scant evidence of widespread wrongdoing. Trump himself requested a mail ballot for Florida's March GOP primary and he has voted absentee in previous elections.

While Republicans insist that Trump's position on the issue is nuanced and not simply an effort to suppress Democratic votes, the president undermined those arguments Wednesday morning.

Trump's campaign has pushed his supporters to vote by mail and says its main objection is to mailing ballots to all voters. Five states that use this method have had no significant voter fraud cases. California earlier this month said it'd mail ballots to all voters for November.