President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to Wilmington, North Carolina on Wednesday.

Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

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Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to Wilmington, North Carolina on Wednesday.

Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

President Trump, who has frequently criticized mail-in voting, on Wednesday took his attacks on the process a step further, telling supporters in North Carolina they should try to vote twice, once by mail, and once in person.

Such an action would be a felony under North Carolina law, as is inducing someone to vote twice, says Amber McReynolds, who heads the National Vote At Home Institute.

Speaking to a group of supporters at the Wilmington, N.C. airport, Trump said “If you get the unsolicited ballots, send it in, and then go – make sure it counted. And if it doesn’t tabulate, you vote. You just vote. And then if they tabulate it very late, which they shouldn’t be doing, they’ll see you voted, and so it won’t count. So, send it in early, and then go and vote. And if it’s not tabulated – you vote. And the vote is going to count,” Trump said.

While nine states and the District of Columbia are proactively sending ballots to all registered voters, North Carolina is not and neither is the state sending out absentee ballot applications to voters, as an additional nine states are.

In a subsequent interview with WCET Television, Trump was asked about his confidence in the state’s absentee voting system. “They’ll go out and they’ll vote and they’re going to have to go and check their vote by going to the poll and voting that way because if it tabulates then they won’t be able to do that. So, let them send it in and let them go vote and if their system’s as good as they say it is they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated they’ll be able to vote so that’s the way it is.”

On Thursday, White House spokesman Judd Deere, in a statement, denied that Trump was urging people to vote twice, and said the news media was taking his remarks out of context. “No one has fought harder for an election system that is fair and free from fraud and abuse than President Trump. This idea that he is encouraging people to vote twice is yet another example of the media taking him out of context,” Deere said.

McReynolds, a former director of election in Denver, whose group advocates for voting by mail, said there are safeguards in place in most states to prevent the kind of action Trump was advocating.

When voters sign the envelope containing their ballot, “it’s very much the same as you checking in to a polling place on a poll book,” she says. “You’re essentially checking yourself off the list by turning that envelope in.”

McReynolds says if voters “show up in person and you’ve requested a mail ballot, you’re going to be given a provisional ballot because they need to confirm that you’re a mail ballot has not been received,” she says.

Trump has frequently criticized mail-in voting alleging without evidence it was rife with fraud. A record number of voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail in the coming presidential election because of concerns relating to the coronavirus pandemic.