Trump, Who Says Voting by Mail Is ‘Cheating,’ Casts Mail-In Ballot in Florida as He Seeks to Block the Option for Others

President Donald Trump has once again utilized mail-in voting in a Florida election, according to public records, even as he continues to escalate his public rhetoric against the practice, labeling it “mail-in cheating.”

Palm Beach County election records, first reported by CNN and confirmed by NBC News, show that the 79-year-old president’s ballot was received and counted for this week’s special election in House District 87. The district encompasses his primary Florida residence, the Mar-a-Lago Club. While the records verify the ballot’s processing, they do not specify if it was delivered via the postal service or a secure drop box.

The timing of the vote highlights a stark contrast between the President’s personal actions and his public policy positions. On Monday, March 23—the same week his Florida ballot was processed—Trump addressed a Memphis task force, claiming the United States is “the only country that does mail-in voting.”

“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” Trump told the roundtable. “I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all.”

This is not the first instance of the President opting for a mail ballot. Records show Trump voted by mail in the 2020 Florida presidential primary and cast an absentee ballot in New York in 2018. He has previously attempted to distinguish “absentee” voting from “universal” mail-in voting, though election experts note the verification processes are often identical.

The White House Response: The SAVE America Act

White House spokesperson Olivia Wales dismissed the scrutiny, characterizing the President’s vote as a “non-story.” In a statement to PEOPLE, Wales argued that the President’s actions align with the proposed SAVE America Act, a legislative priority for the administration that would mandate proof of citizenship and strict voter ID requirements.

“As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel,” Wales said. “The President is a resident of Palm Beach… but he obviously primarily lives at the White House. This falls under the travel exception.”

The SAVE America Act aims to ban universal mail-in voting, restricting the practice solely to those who cannot physically reach a polling station. Trump recently took to Truth Social to demand the bill’s passage, threatening to veto unrelated legislation until his “gold standard” of voting restrictions—including the elimination of most mail-in options—is met.

Despite the President’s repeated assertions that mail-in voting is “highly susceptible to fraud,” federal and state election officials have consistently found no evidence of widespread irregularities that could alter election outcomes. Nevertheless, Trump continues to cite these concerns as a cornerstone of his political platform, frequently revisiting his unproven claims regarding the 2020 presidential election.

As the administration pushes for a total overhaul of federal voting standards, the President’s personal reliance on the very systems he critiques remains a focal point for critics and election integrity advocates alike.