Fox News’ Dana Perino described Donald Trump’s request that people vote twice in the 2020 election as “not smart” and “illegal” and suggested the president scratch it from his list of campaign talking points.
Trump on Wednesday urged supporters in North Carolina to cast their ballots first by mail and then again in person to test the state’s election process. It is illegal to vote more than once in an election.
On Thursday’s broadcast of “America’s Newsroom,” Perino said, “It’s one man, one vote” and “that’s the way it should be.”
“Voting in person is ideal because those votes typically don’t ever get thrown out,” she said in the segment. “When you send in a mail-in ballot sometimes the signatures don’t match. You didn’t hit the right thing. That is not as secure.”
Perino referred to Trump’s unfounded attacks on mail-in voter fraud, correctly asserting that such fraud “has not happened as much as he has said.”
She went on:
There are some states that have handled it well, but they have had years to figure out their process.
I think that it’s not smart to suggest people vote twice. It is also actually, according to the North Carolina election official down there, it’s illegal to suggest that people vote twice. So, I think that maybe that one I would scratch off the talking point list if I were them.
Perino served as White House press secretary for former President George W. Bush. Last month, she was among those on Fox News who praised the speeches delivered by former first lady Michelle Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention.
“She has that voice, she has clarity, and she knows what she is out there wanting to do,” Perino said of Obama. “She was trying to get everybody to really focus and then she had a call to action. Ask for your ballot tonight. I think that the DNC, if they look over the course of the night, the first virtual convention of our history, I think they would say that Michelle Obama stuck the landing.”
Perino also lauded Biden’s address, saying he “hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth.”
“He had pace, rhythm, energy, emotion and delivery,” she said. “I think if he looks back, he’s gonna say, that’s probably the best speech of his life.”