Romney rebukes Trump on mail-in voting

Sen. Mitt Romney said on Friday that he's unaware of "any evidence that voting by mail would increase voter fraud," countering repeated claims from President Trump that mail-in voting will lead to rampant fraud.

What he's saying: "My biggest concern, frankly, with regards to voting fraud has been that there would be some kind of hacking of our voting electronic systems, and that voting machines or tabulating equipment would be hacked," Romney said in an interview with the Sutherland Institute.

• "When politicians attack a judicial system, attack a voting system ... attack a free press, these things threaten the foundation upon which not only our own democracy rests but democracies around the world rest," he added.
• On the coronavirus, Romney said: "...we have 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of the world’s deaths due to covid-19. And there’s no way to spin that in a positive light."

The big picture: Trump is working to block a rise in mail-in voting in November's election.

The president has thwarted Democrats' demands for $25 billion to aid the U.S. Postal Service and fund mail-in voting in stalled coronavirus stimulus negotiations. On Thursday, Trump said he would approve the billions in funding for USPS if Democrats could compromise on GOP priorities, per The Hill.

• Romney said he would "prefer" that "additional funds to states that don't have as effective voting systems as we do here in Utah for voting by mail."