Trump casts a mail-in ballot in Florida special election as he tries to sharply limit absentee voting

By Molly English, Randi Kaye, CNN

Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — President Donald Trump voted in Tuesday’s Florida state House special election by mail even as he suggested on Monday that “mail-in voting means mail-in cheating.”

“You know, brought to my attention today that we’re the only country that does mail-in voting,” Trump said at a roundtable on crime in Memphis. “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all.”

According to Palm Beach County records, Trump voted in the special election for House District 87, which includes his Mar-a-Lago residence, by mail earlier this month. Trump also voted by mail in the primary for the election in January.

Democrat Emily Gregory will win Tuesday’s special election and flip the ruby-red district, CNN’s Decision Desk projected.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the veracity of voting by mail, claiming without evidence that it’s a significant source of election fraud. He has made the elimination of no-excuse mail voting a top priority through the “SAVE America Act”, a federal elections overhaul bill facing slim odds of passage in the Senate. The Supreme Court also heard arguments Monday in a case brought by Republicans that seeks to tighten deadlines for mail ballots.

Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that Trump’s voter ID bill “has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel.”

“As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, DC,” she said. “This is a non-story.”

Trump is not expected to be in Florida on Election Day on Tuesday.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, responding to a question at a press conference about Trump voting by mail, admonished the president, calling it “king-like behavior.”

“Rules for me that don’t apply, but not for thee – that’s his position,” said Jeffries. “And this legislation, the so-called SAVE Act, has nothing to do with ensuring that elections are conducted with integrity.”

It also came as a surprise to some voters in Palm Beach on Tuesday that Trump voted by mail.

“Are you kidding me? I had no idea,” Republican voter Michelle Hall told CNN in response to a question about it, saying voting by mail “is terrible unless you have a disability, you’re pregnant, you’re in the hospital, you’re military.”

She added, “If he’s against something, why are you doing it?”

It’s not the first time the president has voted by mail, casting a mail ballot most recently in the Florida presidential primary in 2020 while attempting to differentiate his vote as an “absentee” vote.

“Absentee ballots are good, universal mail-ins when you get inundated with these things are bad and will lead to terrible things, including voter fraud, etcetera,” Trump said at the time.

The president voted early in-person in the presidential primary and in person in the general election at a polling location near Mar-a-Lago in 2024.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.