After criticizing Michigan's absentee voting process, President Donald Trump is now encouraging people to "take advantage of the early voting."
Trump has been critical of mail-in voting, particularly in Democratic states. But Monday, he tweeted a message in apparent full support of the process, saying "Attention MICHIGAN!" and telling people to request an absentee ballot with a link to the Secretary of State's website.
This comes after Trump attacked Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in May, falsely saying she sent out absentee ballots to more than 7 million registered voters. Benson sent out applications, not ballots, to all registered voters.
Trump threatened to withhold funding to Michigan, calling the voter applications "illegal." They are not.
Michigan expanded its absentee voting system in 2018 to all no-reason absentee voting. This facilitated the widespread mail-in voting system which is being relied upon during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Election officials in the state have said there is already a record number of absentee voter applications that have been submitted.
The president's tweet Monday, while positive of mail-in voting, had some factual inaccuracies. Trump said "early voting has started," and tells people to "vote in person today." Early voting in Michigan doesn't start until Sept. 24.
The president tweeted a similar message to New Hampshire.
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