Tim Scott Says Mail-In Ballot Process Will ‘Work Out Just Fine’

UNITED STATES - JUNE 23: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., right, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conduct a news conference after the Senate Republican Policy luncheon in Hart Building on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/POOL)
UNITED STATES - JUNE 23: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., right, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conduct a news conference after the Senate Republican Policy luncheon in Hart Building on Tuesday, June 23, 2... UNITED STATES - JUNE 23: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., right, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conduct a news conference after the Senate Republican Policy luncheon in Hart Building on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/POOL) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on Tuesday morning said that he believes the country’s expanded mail-in ballots process will “prove to work out just fine.”

“I have a lot of confidence in our electoral process,” Scott told TODAY Show anchor Savannah Guthrie hours after he headlined the opening night of the Republican Party’s convention on Monday. “I’m very confident that we will have fair elections throughout this country.”

The comments follow a months-long effort by President Donald Trump to undermine the voting process by falsely suggesting that mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic will lead to widespread fraud.

“I’m going to have confidence that all of the moving pieces will actually fit together  and we’ll have a very strong integrity-driven, character-driven election,” Scott said.

But in spite of Scott’s remarks on the matter, the President has dialed up his attacks on voting.

“The only way we’re going to lose this election is if this election is rigged,” Trump said last week during a counter-programming event in battleground Wisconsin to contrast the Democrats’ convention last week.

Those remarks served as conspiratorial fodder to the President’s arsenal against mail-in voting and were used almost word-for-word again by Trump at the RNC on Monday.

“They’re using Covid to defraud the American people,” Trump said in North Carolina.

“The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” he said. “We’re going to win.”

While Scott would not directly address the President’s unfounded claims against voting by mail, he said that he believes he echoes the sentiments of “what most Americans believe” when he says that “this process of mail-in ballots will prove to work out just fine.”

“I think every single American should have the right to vote,”  Scott said.

The Republican lawmaker’s comments, while appearing to challenge claims about the legitimacy of voting by mail, stopped miles short of the battlecry made by prominent Democrats at the DNC last week. Former first lady Michelle Obama — Scott’s Democratic first-night keynote counterpart — opened the Democratic convention last week railing against the assault on mail-in voting by President Trump, urging voters to cast ballots early as a way to push back on clear attempts at voter suppression.

“Right now, folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting,” the former first lady said. Obama added that Americans should request mail-in ballots “right now, tonight,” and send them back “immediately.”

Scott’s lack of urgency and unwillingness to directly challenge the President about mail-in voting seems to show that even among Republicans who have championed the integrity of mailed ballots, few if any are willing to step up to challenge efforts at suppressing the mail-in vote.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. …and we’ll have a very strong integrity-driven, character-driven election,” Scott said.

    Exactly what Trump is working so hard to destroy.

  2. Did anyone know it was “Diversity Night” at the RNC last night? Best. Infrastructure. Week. Ever.

    Also, you may as well show yourself to the Shit Can, Timmy. You’ve reached your expiration date.

  3. If many more GOPpers would come out and clearly refute these statements the President is making on VBM, it might take some of the wind out of the sails this myth is taking on.

    I agree entirely that Trump is setting up the election to be ‘fraudulent’ on this. He’ll repeat it time and time again until it completely depresses the minions. Is it possible he does such a good job that no one shows up on his side of the aisle?

    Stay tuned…

  4. What’s Tim Scott smoking?

    and we’ll have a very strong integrity-driven, character-driven election

    And this is code for “Hey everybody vote for Biden because Trump has no integrity or character”.

  5. Good thing he waited until he already spoke at the convention

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

42 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ajm Avatar for josephebacon Avatar for meri Avatar for fargo116 Avatar for pyanfar Avatar for becca656 Avatar for storm Avatar for cd Avatar for alyoshakaramazov1 Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for tena Avatar for presidentlindsay Avatar for daulphin Avatar for docd Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for tiowally Avatar for jmacaz Avatar for grack Avatar for justruss Avatar for greenman66 Avatar for LeeHarveyGriswold Avatar for PicMover Avatar for Kurtywerty Avatar for ClutchCargo

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: