President Trump casts a 'very secure vote' for himself in-person in Florida
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
- President Donald Trump on Saturday morning cast his early, in-person ballot at an early voting site in West Palm Beach, Florida.
- The trip would mark Trump's in-person early voting experience in the Sunshine State since switching his residency there from New York in 2019.
- First Lady Melania Trump did not accompany Trump to the voting site.
- Trump voted by mail in Florida for two primary elections earlier this year.
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President Donald Trump on Saturday morning cast his early, in-person ballot in West Palm Beach, Florida, his first time voting in-person in the Sunshine State since switching his residency there from New York in 2019.
The president arrived at the Palm Beach County Main Library around 10 a.m., one of the county's 18 early voting sites, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Upon his arrival, Trump was greeted to cheers of "Four More Years" by a wave of onlookers.
—Christine Stapleton (@StapletonPBPost) October 24, 2020
—Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) October 24, 2020
After voting, Trump expressed the sense of confidence that he had in the process.
"It was a very secure vote, much more secure than when you send in a ballot I can tell you that," he said. "I voted for a guy named Trump."
First Lady Melania Trump did not travel with the president for this trip. On October 20, the first lady skipped a Pennsylvania campaign appearance with her husband due to lingering coughs in the aftermath of her COVID-19 diagnosis.
—Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 24, 2020
The president, who is embarking on a rigorous campaign schedule until Election Day, had rallies yesterday in The Villages, the sprawling central Florida retirement community, and in Pensacola, a city nestled in the state's conservative northwestern Panhandle.
At the Villages, Trump reaffirmed his decision to vote in-person for the general election, saying it was his personal preference.
"You know, those mail-in [ballots] ... I like being able to vote," Trump said. "I'm old-fashioned I guess."
Earlier this year, Trump voted by mail for two Florida primary elections.
Late last year, Trump, a native New Yorker, changed his official residence from his longtime Manhattan home to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach. At the time, The New York Times reported that a confidant of the president said the move was made "primarily for tax purposes."
Trump has been a longtime critic of mail-in balloting, charging that the method is rife with fraud and openly questioning whether he would accept the result of the 2020 election if he didn't deem the process as fair.