Trump Votes Early in Person in Palm Beach, After Voting by Mail Twice Earlier This Year
The president and first lady cast ballots Saturday at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office before he flew to a rally in Georgia. He used mail ballots in Florida's March special election and August primary while criticizing mail voting.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump voted early and in person Saturday at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office in West Palm Beach, Fla., before he flew to Georgia for a campaign rally, CBS News, WPBF and USA Today reported.
The motorcade arrived at the elections office at 3:58 p.m., according to pool reports cited by WPBF and USA Today. Trump told reporters "everything is good" as he went inside and wore an "I Voted" sticker afterward. Asked whether he voted for Republicans down the line, he said, "Very much so," according to WPBF and USA Today, which cited the Associated Press. The motorcade left at 4:36 p.m., USA Today reported.
The in-person vote follows a different practice earlier this year. USA Today reported that Trump voted by mail in Florida's March special election for a state House seat and in the state's Republican primary in August. CBS News reported that he has voted by mail in recent elections and that earlier this week he said he prefers to vote on Election Day. He has repeatedly criticized widespread mail voting and pushed for limits on it, making unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud, USA Today reported.
The Trumps' Election Day polling place is the Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach, which is also one of the county's 28 early voting sites, WPBF reported. Early voting in Palm Beach County began Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 1, according to USA Today, citing the county elections office.
From West Palm Beach, Trump went to the airport that bears his name and flew on Air Force One to Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, arriving at 5:56 p.m., WPBF reported. Melania Trump did not make the trip. In Perry, Ga., he rallied for Republican Reps. Mike Collins and Rick Jackson, CBS News reported.
Before the rally he posted on Truth Social that their opponents are "Radical Left Lowlifes and Lunatics," CBS News reported.
The vote came during a busy stretch of travel. CBS News reported that Trump was in South Carolina on Wednesday night, in Iowa on Thursday night and in Fort Myers, Fla., on Friday night. Asked by reporters whether he had played golf Saturday, he said, "I didn't play. I just hit balls for an hour," adding that he was "too busy," according to WPBF.
His Election Day plans are not yet clear; he did not answer when reporters asked this week what he would be doing that day, CBS News reported.
The in-person vote comes as the administration presses mail-ballot disputes in other states. In California, the Justice Department has sued state election officials and demanded that counties set aside mail ballots from voters it calls likely noncitizens.
