Last month we covered a story that married the gastro and political — two of my favorite topics, it should’ve been a joy! Instead it made me want to ralph: Republicans were citing Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Pass ID cards as a reason for passing the SAVE America Act, something dear leader desperately wants on the books before the midterms. Their so-to-speak logic was, “If you need photo ID to access all-you-can-eat pasta, you should need photo ID to vote.” Bucket, meet my vomit. The stricter voting ID requirements in SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, another barf) will prevent tens of millions of American citizens from voting. But it doesn’t stop there: another pillar of SAVE is barring universal mail-in voting, only allowing it for people with illnesses, disabilities, who are traveling, or are in the military. I wonder which exception Trump claimed when he mailed in his ballot for yesterday’s Florida Republican primary.

Politico first reported on Trump casting a mail-in ballot in Florida, the president’s home state, by citing voting records from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. USA TODAY was unable to access the president’s Palm Beach County records online. A search tool said Trump’s voting records were “protected from public disclosure.”

Trump has voted by mail in past Florida elections, including in March for a Florida state House special election. This time it comes as Trump is urging the Senate to approve the SAVE America Act, which would prohibit universal mail-in voting and limit mail ballots to voters either in the military, disabled, traveling or with illnesses preventing them from voting in person.

Olivia Wales, a White House spokeswoman, confirmed Trump voted by mail in the Florida GOP primary, calling it “a nonstory.”

“As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel — but universal mail-in voting should not be allowed because it’s highly susceptible to fraud,” Wales said. “As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously lives at the White House in Washington, DC.”

Trump last week asked the Supreme Court to intervene to fully implement an executive order that seeks to restrict the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. Trump’s order, which was blocked by a federal judge in Massachusetts, called on states to provide lists of eligible voters who may receive mail ballots. If states did not comply, USPS would refuse to deliver the ballots under the order.

“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all,” Trump said in remarks in Memphis, Tennessee, in March.

…Explaining why he voted by mail in the Florida special election earlier this year, Trump told reporters in March, “Because I’m president of the United States, and because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida.”

[From USA Today]

Fine for me but not for thee, eh? While typically I would defer to Trump as the expert on matters of cheating, this is another one of those 99% instances where he’s wrong. Also, someone please explain this nonsensicalness to me: “Because I’m president of the United States, and because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida.” Unless that response was offered up as evidence of illness and/or disability, I don’t get it. Especially when the White House spox doubles down with “obviously he lives in DC!” as if he weren’t constantly flying down to Mar-a-lago to golf or throw Gatsby-themed parties. But more to the point, of course Trump votes by mail — that way he can do it all while sitting! Heck, that’s why I like voting by mail: I can sit, do it in my own time, and pop something in the mailbox which I so rarely get to do in this digitized world. As long as we aren’t given the benefit of a federal holiday off to vote, then we ought to be afforded the ease of mail-in voting, that’s what I say!

Photos credit: Daniel Torok/Avalon, Joyce N. Boghosian/Avalon, Daniel Torok/Avalon