Over the past several weeks, President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked voting by mail, claiming it will cause “rigged” elections and massive fraud, even though there’s absolutely no data to support such assertions.

And now it appears that Trump’s verbal assault on absentee voting could wind up costing Republicans politically in the key 2020 battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to The Philadelphia Enquirer, which reports that requests for absentee ballots have been heavily weighted towards Democrats:

“As of Thursday morning, about 1.3 million registered Democrats had requested and been approved for mail ballots for the June 2 primary election, compared with about 524,000 Republicans. Republicans made just 29% of the requests, even though they represent 38% of registered voters in the state and 45% of those registered with either major party.”

GOP Officials in the Keystone State admit that Trump’s assault on mail voting has indeed led many Republicans to refuse applying for a mail-in ballot:

“I must tell you that locally, in my county, we’re not advocating and we’re not pushing the mail–in voting,” said Lee Snover, chairwoman of the Northampton County GOP. “We’re concerned about fraud. We’re not happy with the process. Trump has sent the message out there that he’s concerned about it as well.

The end result of the president’s remarks about absentee voting could wind up being a reduced voter turnout among Republicans. And that could prove catastrophic for the state GOP, especially with November 3 approaching.

Ironically, despite Trump saying that voting by mail leads to fraud, his 2020 campaign is sending out emails to Republican voters reminding them that they can cast a ballot from the comfort of their home:

Last week, the Trump campaign sent an email alerting people to the May 26 deadline to apply for a mail ballot. The message — which featured a Trump-Pence “Keep America Great!” campaign logo — included a link to the application form.

 

All of this doesn’t exactly bode well for Republicans in Pennsylvania, and it could cost Trump the state and its 20 electoral votes.

Featured Image Via NBC News