Published 13:42 IST, September 21st 2020
Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien didn't vote in 2016 election: Public records
US President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, did not vote for his boss in the last presidential election, according to public records.
US President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, did not vote for Trump in the last presidential election, according to public records seen by The Washington Post. Back in 2016 elections, Stepien did not vote at all as the records showed that the last time he voted was 2015 when he lived in New Jersey and was registered there.
Trump’s campaign manager, a onetime aide to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, first joined the US President’s team in August 2016. Stepien had requested an absentee ballot, however, a senior campaign official reportedly said that the ballot never arrived, so he didn’t vote in 2016. During the 2018 midterm elections, Stepien was also not registered in either New Jersey or Washington.
Stepien is believed to be the first high-level aide not to have voted in the 2016 GOP primary or presidential election when Trump was on the ballot. The latest news comes in light amid Trump’s criticism over voting by mail. While the US presidential election is just around the corner, Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in-voting is susceptible to widespread fraud and corruption.
Trump encourages to vote in person
Trump has been encouraging Americans to vote in person even though the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the country. He has suggested people to even vote once by mail and once at their polling place to ensure that their vote is counted. It was noted that despite Trump’s antagonism to widespread voting mail, at least top 16 Trump officials regularly vote that way. Stepien, however, appears to be the first top aide not to have voted at all.
As per reports, voting by mail is not something new in the United States as nearly one in four voters did cast presidential ballots in 2016 that way. Even though some US officials seem sceptical and believe that it may lead to election fraud, experts have reportedly said that voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare in the country.
Meanwhile, a large number of voters are expected to use the postal ballot in the presidential elections due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which the Trump administration has failed to contain. GOP has been opposing mail-in ballots because more registered Democrats have requested for postal ballots than registered Republicans for the upcoming elections.
Updated 13:42 IST, September 21st 2020