Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said he would not be making any changes concerning voters being able to use mail-in ballots in his state.
The governor’s statement came in response to President Donald Trump, who recently announced he would issue an executive order to eliminate mail-in ballots throughout the country. Currently, mail-in ballots are legal in Pennsylvania, a reality that Shapiro addressed on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump can sign whatever the hell executive orders he wants to sign and make a show out of whatever he wants,” Shapiro said on Tuesday. “But he can’t change the Constitution with an executive order, and the Constitution gives the authority to set our election rules to the states.”
“Let me remind you that it was just about five years ago, that a bipartisan majority in the House and in the Senate passed mail-in voting,” Shapiro added. “And during that time, millions of people have voted by mail, and we have had free and fair, safe and secure elections.”
Shapiro then highlighted that elections in which voters have used mail-in ballots have benefited political candidates of both major parties, including Trump himself.
“Donald Trump has won some of those elections,” Shapiro said. “He has lost some of those elections. Democrats have won some. Republicans have won some. For him to try and put more misinformation out there, to stoke more division and fear amongst people who want to exercise their constitutional right to pick the leaders in their communities and in their Commonwealth, that is just cynical and wrong.”
Trump blasted mail-in ballots earlier this month after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. He labeled mail-in voting as inefficient, expensive, and inaccurate. He also said that states would ultimately have to follow Trump’s directive because states were just an “agent for the federal government” in vote counting.
“Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” Trump said previously. “They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.”
Shapiro, meanwhile, reiterated that regardless of what executive order the president may or may not sign, it will not change anything in Pennsylvania. Shapiro said the state would continue to use mail-in ballots.
TRUMP PROMISES EXECUTIVE ORDER TO ‘GET RID OF’ MAIL-IN BALLOTS AND VOTING MACHINES
“Donald Trump can sign whatever executive order he wants,” Shapiro said. “It will have absolutely no bearing on our elections here in Pennsylvania, and we will once again have free and fair, safe and secure elections, led by Republican and Democratic clerks of elections in each of our 67 counties.”
“People will be able to vote by mail, or people will be able to vote in person,” Shapiro emphasized.