Trump votes by mail after calling ballots corrupt

US President Donald Trump voted by mail in Florida's Republican primary on Tuesday despite repeatedly denouncing mail ballots as corrupt and pushing to restrict their use before November's midterm elections.

Palm Beach County voting records show Trump requested a ballot in late July and returned it last week for contests in his adopted home state.

Trump has for years claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is highly vulnerable to fraud and has repeatedly linked it to his false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. In a July speech on election security, he said mail-in ballots are “inherently corrupt.”

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said there was no contradiction because Trump was away from Florida. She said legislation Trump supports would allow mail ballots for illness, disability, military service or travel, but not universal mail-in voting.

Florida law allows any eligible registered voter to request a mail ballot, though the Republican-controlled state has tightened identification and ballot-handling rules in recent years.

Trump is pressing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would impose tougher identification and citizenship requirements and sharply restrict mail voting. His administration is also asking the Supreme Court to revive parts of an executive order on election procedures that lower courts blocked.

Trump also voted by mail in Palm Beach County in 2020 and during a Florida special election earlier this year. The Florida primary includes the Republican contest to succeed term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis, with Trump backing congressman Byron Donalds.