Vice President Mike Pence wasn't at President Trump's White House press conference on Thursday evening, but he approved of his message.
Trump made multiple baseless claims about the election, including that Democrats are trying to "steal" it. He said that "legal votes" are in his favor and Democrats are relying on "illegal votes." Pence later echoed Trump's comments on Twitter, saying, "I stand with President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote."
Based on Trump's remarks, it appears as though the president considers mail-in ballots to be "illegal votes," even though they are perfectly legal. Each state has different rules for mail-in ballots — in California, for example, as long as a ballot is postmarked by Nov. 3 and arrives up to 17 days after the election, it will be counted. In Iowa, ballots have to be postmarked no later than Nov. 2 and arrive at county auditor's offices by noon on Nov. 10.
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Ahead of the election, Trump railed against mail-in ballots, trying to claim they are tied to voter fraud, and told his supporters to vote for him in person. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, more people requested absentee ballots, and in some cases, states sent ballots to all registered voters. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden backed expanded mail-in voting, and those ballots have been benefiting him in battleground states like Pennsylvania.
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