A reporter on Friday tried to explain to Donald Trump that absentee ballots are the same as mail-in ballots, which he has repeatedly and inaccurately attacked as fraudulent.

Trump continued to make a false distinction between the two, describing absentee ballots as "secure" and mail-in ballots as a "disaster." Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and several others within his inner circle have voted by mail using absentee ballots, as does much of the military.

As election polling has shown him slipping behind Vice President Joe Biden, Trump has claimed – without evidence — that votes delivered by mail are suspect.

Many plan to vote in the fall election by mail in order to remain safe during the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 150,000 Americans.

In March, Trump admitted that voting methods such as casting ballots by mail, which make it easier for more people to participate, concern him because, if more people voted, "you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."

From a July 31 press availability:

REPORTER: The military predominantly votes by mail, or absentee.
DONALD TRUMP: Absentee.
REPORTER: And so —
TRUMP: You didn't understand me. I said absentee ballots are actually a very good thing.
REPORTER: They're the same.
TRUMP: Absentee ballots are secure and they're very good, but universal mail-in are a disaster.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.