"This is a scam": Lt. Gov. Patrick calls it laughable for people under 65 to fear voting in person

[TexasTowelie]

by Matthew Watkins, Texas Tribune


Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Friday that efforts to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus amount to a "scam by Democrats to steal the election" and claimed that people under 65 are at more risk of dying in a car wreck on the way to vote than they are from dying from the new coronavirus because they voted in person.

"There is no reason — capital N, capital O — no reason that anyone under 65 should be able to say I am afraid to go vote," Patrick, a Republican, said in an interview with Fox News. "Have they been to a grocery store? Have they been to Walmart? Have they been to Lowe’s? Have they been to Home Depot? Have they been anywhere? Have they been afraid to go out of their house? This is a scam by the Democrats to steal the election."

Texas has been locked in a legal fight over whether it has to expand who is eligible to vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats and multiple voters have sued the state, saying it's dangerous to require people to wait in line and cast ballots on machines shared with other voters while the virus is spreading. GOP state officials have opposed the effort, however, saying that mail-in voting is vulnerable to fraud.

Patrick repeated those worries about fraud Friday while also dismissing any fears people might have about going to the polls if they aren't eligible for a mail-in ballot. Patrick noted that the vast majority of people dying from the virus are older. Currently in Texas, anyone 65 or older or with a disability is eligible for a ballot.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/22/texas-dan-patrick-voting-by-mail-coronavirus/